sabato 12 dicembre 2015

Buffalo Tom (1990) Birdbrain


Artist: Buffalo Tom
Title: Birdbrain
Label: Beggars Banquet - BBL 31 CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1990
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock

Songs:
01 Birdbrain 3:14
02 Skeleton Key 4:36
03 Caress 2:41
04 Guy Who Is Me 3:04
05 Enemy 4:53
06 Crawl 3:53
07 Fortune Teller 3:17
08 Baby 3:32
09 Directive 4:02
10 Bleeding Heart 3:13
11 Heaven (Acoustic) 3:40
12 Reason Why (Acoustic) 5:07

Band:
Bill Janovitz: guitar, vocals
Chris Colbourn: bass
Tom Maginnis: drums

Special Guest:
Sean Slade: guitar on "Bleeding Heart", backing vocals on "Crawl"
Monte Rose: guitar on "Birdbrain"

Credits:
Art Direction, Design - Bob Hamilton
Artwork [Back Cover And Booklet Art] - Stephanie Nyzio
Artwork [Front Cover] - Steve Mathewson
Co-producer - Sean Slade
Photography By – Chris Hosford
Producer - Buffalo Tom, J. Mascis
Written by Buffalo Tom (tracks: 1 to 10, 12)
Written by Richard Butler & Tim Butler (track: 11) (The Psychedelic Furs)


Buffalo Tom (1990) Birdbrain

Bar-B-Q Killers (1987) Comely


The Bar-B-Q Killers formed in Athens, Georgia in 1984 and broke up in 1989. Members were Laura Carter (vocals, guitar), Claire Horne (guitar), David Judd (bass) and Arthur Johnson (drums). They recorded one album along with various singles and compilation appearances. They also appeared in the 1987 music documentary, 'Athens, Ga. Inside-Out'.

Artist: Bar-B-Q Killers
Title: Comely
Label: Twilight - TR 007CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: US, Athens, Georgia
Released: 1987
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie, Alternative Rock

Songs:
01 Sarcophag [3:13]
02 Greatneck [4:00]
03 Weird Shit [2:14]
04 Larger Than Large [2:22]
05 Dookie Tingue [1:21]
06 Bovine Viewfinder [3:20]
07 Jose O. Dingleberry [3:57]
08 They [2:26]
09 Fistula [2:26]
10 The Crowd, Not Me [3:42]
11 Her Shit On His Dick [3:47]
Bonus Track
12 4 For Dead [3:08]

Band:
David Judd - Bass
Arthur Johnson - Drums
Claire Horne - Guitar
Laura Carter - Vocals and Guitar

Special Guest:
David Barbe - Guitar, Percussion (tracks: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11)

Notes:
Recorded and Mixed at John Keane's
Produced by Bar-B-Q Killers and John Keane
Has fold-out jewel case sleeve. Bonus track number 12, 4 For Dead.

With Love Laura, Rest In Peace
[Born 09 August 1965 - Died 02 December 2002]


Village Of Savoonga (1997) Score


Artist: Village Of Savoonga
Title: Score
Label: Communion Label - comm-48
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 1997
Genre: Rock, Electronic
Style: Post Rock, Abstract

Songs
1 Helicopter Song 7:20
2 Score 4:53
3 The Ground Below 5:39
4 Score 6:16
5 Above Our Heads 5:11
6 Neve 5:13

Credits:
Bass, Noises – Micha Acher
Composed By – Caspar Brandner (tracks: 1, 5), Markus Acher, Martin Gretschmann (tracks: 2, 4), Wolfgang Petters (tracks: 3, 6)
Drums, Noises – Caspar Brandner
Guitar, Keyboards, Bass, Noises – Wolfgang Petters
Guitar, Keyboards, Tape, Electronics, Noises – Markus Acher
Mixed By – Mario Thaler
Noises, Voice, Lyrics By – Christoph Merk
Sampler – Martin Gretschmann
Turntables – Rudi Mahall

Notes:
Recorded 1996/1997 on a taperecorder (4 and 8-track), at home in Wechslerhof, Tandsberg Germany, live in Ulm (Christian Schrockner) and at Uphon Studios in Weilheim.
Mixed and produced at Uphon Tonstudio Weilheim 1997

Village Of Savoonga (1997) Score

venerdì 11 dicembre 2015

Madrigali Magri (2000) Negarville



È passato un anno e mezzo da "Lische". splendido esordio dei Madrigali Magri - raramente s'è sentito nome piú azzeccato: perché sono popolari e agresti, e sono proprio magri.

Da capo. Assieme a Valerio Rossi (batteria) e Nicoletta Pardi (basso), Giambeppe Succi (chitarra e voce) apre il disco ed Entra obliquo per introdurci silenziosamente al pulsare sommesso e all'universo costretto e raggrumato di Negarville, un western twangin' e riflesso di chitarre e andamenti bluesy sincopati e ansiogeni. Bene: le coordinate sono le stesse, ed è segno che già rassicura.

Buona parte di questo secondo, grande album del terzetto astigiano è strumentale: certi acquerelli chitarristici, soprattutto in apertura, potranno far pensare a Fahey (È un giorno normale, Non hai mai pace, Porto dentro) ma tutto poi si sfalda in pece, desolata pece esistenziale come fosse un racconto di Cormac McCarthy sotto eroina, come sensazione d'intimità sanguinante che è sconosciuta al cerebrale blues dell'americano.

Personalmente mi ricordano il fare di un autore misconosciuto e grandissimo che si chiama Dava Fischoff, del quale sentiremo ancor presto parlare...

Bellissimi il ritmo e l'estasi chitarristica di Un posto per un altro, che è difficile definire se non come un posto strano in cui il Neil Young di "Zuma" s'incontra con gli Storm&Stress e alla batteria hanno Doug Scharin Temibili e raggelanti gli scheletrici chiaroscuro di Uomo ombra e Porte dell'inverno, laddove il terzetto sperimenta qualche discrasia rumorosa e s'abbandona al fluire degli eventi per avvicinarsi parecchio agli ultimi Einsturzende Neubauten, ai quali peraltro lo accumunano il sapore aspro di blues futurista, la scarsezza dei suoni, il recitare sommesso.

Sì, si dirà che raccontare sonoro è esercizio alla Massimo Volume: ma qui si tratta d'un parlare a ritroso, quasi venisse da fuori, e a bassissima voce, per entrarsi poi dentro da solo. Benefica implosione, non dichiarazione come dire che dove i MV esprimono i Madrigali comprimono. Vi toccherà cercarli insomma: gli altri invece son sempre entrati loro in voi, e a forza L'album è più ricurvo di "Lische', porta con sé mene produzione, meno suono e meno dell'oggettistica vagamente arty regalata allora dalla produzione di Cambuzat e Locardi.

Ma porta ancora musiche e quindi testi bellissimi: poesia grezza e disossata, umida e sofferta. Deliqui, piccole morti quell'ora di notte in cui non si respira ma salita - e vorresti esser li. (7/ 8)

Stefano I. Bianchi

Artist: Madrigali Magri
Title: Negarville
Label: Wallace Records - wallace9
Format: CD, Album
Country: Italy
Released: 2000
Genre: Rock
Style: Post Rock, Noise, Experimental

Songs:
01 entro obliquo 02:06
02 Negarville 05:02
03 è un giorno normale 02:05
04 porto dentro 03:33
05 non hai mai pace 02:03
06 un posto per un altro 07:40
07 giorno è notte 04:11
08 uomo ombra 04:28
09 esco obliquo 01:21
10 Porte dell'inverno 05:32
11 parti non mie 02:49

Band:
Nicoletta Parodi - bass
Valerio Rossi - drums
G. Succi - guitar, voice


Madrigali Magri (2000) Negarville

Inuit (2014) Don't Forget You're Here Forever


Artist: Inuit
Title: Don't Forget You're Here Forever
Label: Good Grief Records - GG009
Format: Web, Album
Country: Glasgow, UK
Released: 27 April 2014
Genre: Rock
Style: Post Rock

Songs:
1 The Staybright 05:09
2 Are You Taking Pictures Of My Stories? 04:22
3 Don't Forget 02:52
4 Fraserburgh 03:46
5 You're Here Forever 01:18
6 Get That Face Off Your Face 03:56
7 I'm No Sun Expert 07:18

Inuit are:
Chris Monan - Guitar, Vocals
Darren Gibson - Guitar
Andy McMillan - Drums, Vocals

Notes:
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Michael Butler at Bare Calf Studios, Winter 2013.
Produced by Good Grief & Inuit.
Artwork by Glenn Kennedy
Programming by Michael Butler
Vocals in "Get That Face Off Your Face" by Kenny Bates


Inuit (2014) Don't Forget You're Here Forever

giovedì 10 dicembre 2015

Crowsdell (1995) Dreamette


Artist: Crowsdell
Title: Dreamette
Label: Big Cat - ABB83CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: Europe
Released: 1995
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock

Songs:
01 Down [3:44]
02 Sugar Coated [2:45]
03 Tease [4:57]
04 Sad Eyes [3:31]
05 Dee-Lovely [3:18]
06 Weak [5:13]
07 Spillin [2:32]
08 Weight-Less [2:18]
09 Waltz [4:26]
10 Handbook [3:41]
11 Grace [3:39]
12 Waiting [3:46]

Band:
Shannon Wright - Guitar, Vocals
Paul Howell - Bass
Laurie Ann Wall - Drums

Special Guest:
Sibel Firat - Cello (songs 8 & 10)

Notes:
Rich Costey - Engineer
Crowsdell & Stephen Malkmus - Producer
Recorded at Water Music, Hoboken, NJ

Sibel Firat : Mary Lee's Corvette
Stephen Malkmus : Pavement, Silver Jews, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Stephen Malkmus And Friends, The Crust Brothers, The Jicks


Crowsdell (1995) Dreamette

The Iceburn Collective (1998) Power Of The Lion


Artist: The Iceburn Collective
Title: Power Of The Lion
Label: Iceburn Records - ICE 002
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 10 Feb 1998
Genre: Rock
Style: Avantgarde, Rock, Jazz, Drone, Experimental

Songs:
1) No. 1 [9:54]
2) No. 2 [7:02]
3) No. 3 [14:42]
4) No. 4 [6:31]
5) No. 5 [9:39]
6) No. 6 [6:02]
7) No. 7 [16:04]

Credits:
Guitar - Gentry Densley
Guitar - Ed Rodriguez
Contrabass - Doug Wright
Contrabass - Cache Tolman
Percussion - Chad Popple
Engineer - Wayne Peet
Producer - Gentry, Wayne
Composed By Gentry Densley

Notes:
Recorded at New Zone Studio, March 28 & 29, 1997.

The Iceburn Collective (1998) Power Of The Lion

lunedì 7 dicembre 2015

Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth (2009) Demo 2009 [Limited To 50 Copies]


Artist: Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth
Title: Demo 2009
Label: none
Format: Web Flac
Country: US, Seattle, WA
Released: 2009
Genre: Rock
Style: Doom Metal, Post Rock, Heavy Metal

Songs:
1 La Mano Poderosa [12:20]
2 I Am [8:22]

Band:
Tad Doyle
Aaron Edge
Peggy Tully

Notes:
Front and Back cover designed by Aaron Edge.

Demo limited to 50 copies.

lunedì 2 novembre 2015

Shellac (1998) Terraform


Artist: Shellac
Title: Terraform
Label: Touch And Go - TG200CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 19 May 1998
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock

Band:
Steve Albini - Voice, Guitar
Bob Weston - Bass
Todd Trainer - Drums

Songs:
1 Didn't We Deserve a Look at You the Way You Really Are
2 This Is a Picture
3 Disgrace
4 Mouthpiece
5 Canada
6 Rush Job
7 House Full of Garbage
8 Copper


Shellac (1998) Terraform
Uzeda (2006) Stella


Artist: Uzeda
Title: Stella
Label: Touch And Go - TG298
Format: CD
Country: Italy
Released: 22 Aug 2006
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Math Rock, Noise, Post Rock

Songs:
1 Wailing
2 What I Meant When I Called Your Name
3 This Heat
4 Time Below Zero
5 From The Book of Skies
6 Camillo
7 Gold
8 Steam, Rain & Other Stuff

Band:
Giovanna Cacciola - Vocal
Agostino Tilotta -Guitar
Raffaele Gulisano - Bass
Davide Oliveri -Drums


Uzeda (2006) Stella

mercoledì 26 agosto 2015

Vanessa Van Basten (2006) La Stanza Di Swedenborg


Artist: Vanessa Van Basten
Title: La Stanza Di Swedenborg
Label: Radiotarab Records - Rt004, Eibon Records - Van068, Cold Current Productions - C.C.CD005, Noisecult - none
Format: CD, Album
Country: Italy
Released: 01 Dec 2006
Genre: Rock
Style: Post Rock, Noise, Doom Metal

Songs:
1 La Stanza Di Swedenborg [5:23]
2 Love [0:40]
3 Dole [5:07]
4 Giornada De Oro [5:06]
5 Il Faro [2:06]
6 Floaters [4:29]
7 Vanja [3:27]
8 Good Morning, Vanessa Van Basten! [13:55]

“La stanza di Swedenborg” è il prodotto del duo genovese Morgan Bellini-Stefano Parodi, il loro personale debutto che convoglia gli intenti drone-psych dell’Ep omonimo del 2005 e proietta una forma ancor più austera (quasi infreddolita) di espansione rumoristica delle muraglie di suono.
In questo modo, le tracce portanti del lavoro (da “Vanja” a “Giornada De Oro”, dalla title track a “Dole”) sono ampie stasi che utilizzano tutti mezzi a disposizione per raffinare il concetto di contrappunto emotivo (rabbia paradisiaca, verrebbe da dire) asservito alla composizione. Sfilano chitarre folk, saltarelli arcani, gorghi liturgici con effetti spaziali, dissonanze elettroniche alla Neurosis (più o meno pronunciate), progressioni ritmiche magmatiche, mareggiate soniche alla Isis, scenari shoegaze grandiosi, overtoni al limite della new age.

Uno dei migliori dischi italiani del 2006, e forse uno dei migliori esordi dell’annata in senso assoluto, paga il pegno dell’inserimento diligente in una corrente dai contorni ormai più che stabili (o in via di stabilizzazione, anche grazie all’album in questione). Ha il suo maggiore punto di forza nella libertà di rielaborazione, laddove - cioè - l’ascoltatore può smettere di fruire passivamente e cominciare a esplorare gli anfratti di suono, o permettersi di assaporare rappresentazioni di spettri sonori, associazioni contrastate elettriche-elettroniche, sequenze a tecnica mista. Nella produzione a più mani, fa capolino la Eibon, piccola ma interessante label milanese dedita al dark-ambient.

Recensione di Michele Saran

Vanessa Van Basten (2006) La Stanza Di Swedenborg

domenica 2 agosto 2015

Flossie and the Unicorns (1998) L M N O P


Info :
Flossie and the Unicorns are in session and the notes on them read thus: Flossie & The Unicorns just one of the bands on Miss Pussycat’s register. They are in fact a bunch of hand puppets operated by Miss Pussycat herself, who is a top puppeteer in the tradition of early television greats such as Buffalo Billy and Howdy Doody – I think Howdy Doody probably unknown to European audiences. She also allows her furry friends to form bands and do shows for unruly teenagers in American rock and roll clubs and to make hit records. Indeed, Flossie & The Unicorns already have several inches of vinyl under their belt including their latest offering, L.M.N.O.P.. The music sounds like furry animals playing dance music on little tiny guitars, incy-wincy drums and itty-bitty synthesizers. This is their debut Peel session. Apparently Flossie and the girls are much better than Alvin & The Chipmunks.
(John Peel, 08 June 1999)

Artist : Flossie and the Unicorns
Title : L M N O P
Label : Skin Graft Records - GR54CD
Format: CD
Country: US
Released: 20 Oct 1998
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Abstract, Noise, Punk, Avantgarde, Minimal

Songs :
1 - Free Guitar Lessons For Animals
2 - The Men With A Million Records
3 - Miss Foxyface
4 - Chewing Gum
5 - Celebrity Biography
6 - Junior Troopers Are Go
7 - Underwater Dance Club
8 - The Halloween Puppet Show

Band :
Drums, Synthesizer – Stuffy
Guitar – Snicklefritz
Guitar [Lead], Vocals – Princess Pandora Stardust
Lead Vocals – Flossie
Other [Manager] – Miss Pussycat
Producer – Miss Pussycat
Vocals – Mr. Quintron


sabato 11 luglio 2015

Grifters (1993) One Sock Missing


One Sock Missing is the second album from the Grifters released in 1993 on Shangri-La Records. "Certainly the most low-key (if not lo-fi) of the Grifters' early records, 1993's One Sock Missing is less noisy and aggressive than its immediate predecessor, So Happy Together" One Sock Missing signals the direction and sound the band would work on throughout their career.
Info by wikipedia

Artist: Grifters
Title: One Sock Missing
Label: Southern Records18511-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 1993
Genre: Rock
Style: Lo-Fi, Indie Rock

Songs:
01 Bummer [2:55]
02 She Blows Blasts Of Static [4:04]
03 Shark [4:17]
04 Teenage Jesus [3:02]
05 'Side [2:50]
06 #1 [1:17]
07 Tupelo Moan [5:04]
08 Wonder [1:20]
09 Corolla Hoist [4:03]
10 Encrusted [2:19]
11 The Casual Years [3:20]
12 Sain [2:28]
13 Just Passing Out [3:21]
14 I Arise (Bonus Track) [4:37]

Credits:
Artwork By [Cover Design] Paul W. Ringger XXIV
Artwork By [Front Cover Drawing] Dave Shouse
Artwork By [Portraits Painting] Kelly
Producer - Grifters
Recorded By Roy Berry
Recorded By, Mixed By Davis McCain, Doug Easley

Notes:
Largely recorded at a flower shop on Jones Rutledge's 4-track. Thank you Jones. And thank you Jean Thompson. And most specialest thanks to Roy Berry, who recorded most everything at the flower shop. Stuff not recorded at the flower shop recorded at Easley Studios, where everything wuz been mixed/recorded by Davis McCain, Doug Easley & Hank.


Grifters (1993) One Sock Missing

venerdì 3 luglio 2015

Wolf Parade (2008) At Mount Zoomer


Recorded and engineered by drummer Arlen Thompson, At Mount Zoomer is Wolf Parade’s second album for Sub Pop. Their first, Apologies to the Queen Mary, came out in the fall of 2005 and was described by Uncut magazine as, “frequently appealing.”

Singer/guitarist Dan Boeckner: “After Apologies… we wrote about four or five new songs, but we decided to throw them out because they sounded too much like what we’d already done. We could have easily made another Apologies… but what would have been the point?” Instead, the band committed itself to a period of experimentation, recording long improvisational sessions in the Montreal church owned by The Arcade Fire. These tracks were then cut and pasted into discrete compositions. The result is a complex matrix of components and modules that, thanks to the collective efforts of each band member, never feels labored or fussy. From the nimble opening strains of “Soldier’s Grin” to the eleven-minute aggro dirge of “Kissing the Beehive,” they hand authority of the songs around among them with a refreshing absence of ownership. Where Apologies… could be read as a good-natured, sweaty volleyball match between Boeckner and singer/keyboardist Spencer Krug, the new album shows the band as a fully coordinated moving front. This collaboration isn’t just a work ethic—the band’s many offshoots, side projects, and domestic ventures have taken each of them far from their home base in Montreal for extended periods, compressing their time as a functioning unit. “It’s hard enough to get us all in the same room at the same time,” Krug said of the band’s approach, “so when we do get to write songs there isn’t really time for our egos to get in the way.”

The legion of bearded, sweater-vested critics will want to file this album under ‘Prog Rock’ because it doesn’t offer up sugary cast-offs for the short-attention-span set, but no one ever danced to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It might instead be this generation’s Marquee Moon, or an indie rock Chinese Democracy released thirty years early and sixty million dollars under budget (and without cornrows, to boot). Better, though, to think of it as the sound of a band edging forward into a wispy darkness, one hand reaching out, the other firmly clutching the past.

Artist: Wolf Parade
Title: At Mount Zoomer
Label: Sub Pop - SPCD 720
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 16 June 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock, Prog Rock

Songs:
1 Soldier's Grin [4:37]
2 Call It a Ritual [2:45]
3 Language City [5:02]
4 Bang Your Drum [3:10]
5 California Dreamer [6:01]
6 The Grey Estates [3:26]
7 Fine Young Cannibals [6:32]
8 An Animal in Your Care [4:19]
9 Kissing the Beehive [10:52]

Notes:
Packaged in a gatefold cardboard sleeve with a printed paper inner sleeve. Includes a foldout insert of artwork.


martedì 30 giugno 2015

Joanna Newsom (2004) The Milk-Eyed Mender


Joanna Newsom suona principalmente l’arpa, in alcune occasioni anche il piano, l’harpsichord e un wurlitzer e, soprattutto, canta in maniera eccezionale. Non tanto in quanto dotata di chissà quale accademica preparazione vocale, ma solo perché si ritrova di natura un timbro fortemente caratteristico e originale, che è capace di sfruttare a dovere e nella maniera più giusta: Joanna Newsom canta come una bimba piccola. La sua voce è quella di una bimba piccola, la sua capricciosa espressività è quella di una bimba piccola, la teatralità con la quale pone l’enfasi su certe particolari frasi e passaggi è quella dei bimbi piccoli, quella delle interrogative che vertiginosamente stridulano verso l’alto, delle esclamative che si abbattono verso il basso come il martello sull’incudine, dell’imbarazzo misto all’orgogliosa consapevolezza di stare parlando di "cose da grandi" quando si tratta di frasi d’amore, dell’eccitazione divertita di quando si propone un nuovo gioco che si è appena inventato.

Basterebbe solo questo a rendere il disco preziosissimo, il tipo di energia e vibrazione che trasmette, che non è una consapevole e ragionata "gioia" di vivere, piuttosto l’incosciente e smodata "voglia" di vivere, senza filosofeggiare su quanto belle siano le cose del mondo, ma trasformandole in maniera ingenua e automatica in emozioni.

La musica di "The Milk-Eyed Mender" è dunque il palcoscenico che la Newsom mette su per dare la possibilità alla vera protagonista di muoversi: suonato, come già si è detto in precedenza, quasi interamente con l’arpa, maneggiata dalla nostra in maniera assolutamente egregia, il disco si snoda attraverso delicate ballate che pescano sia dalla tradizione folk (sì, neanche lei è riuscita a resistere al fascino delle origini), sia dalle tipiche armonie di un’altra tradizione molto più recente, che si presume essere quella degli anni del suo avvicinamento alla musica popolare, il pop-rock indipendente di scuola americana. L’utilizzo dell’arpa rende queste due correnti assolutamente coese e conciliabili, e tutte le canzoni sono musicalmente gradevolissime e ben curate, sia quando sono leggermente sbilanciate da un lato, sia quando lo sono dall’altro.

E poi ci sono i testi: ognuno di essi è una piccola chicca, sospesa tra il fantastico-favolistico e una pungente e sbarazzina ironia che, credetemi, non in pochi casi vi porterà al riso. Sentirete cantare di improbabili accostamenti e allitterazioni ("Bridges & Balloons", "Peach, Plum, Pear", "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie"), scoprirete che la differenza tra "The Sprout And The Bean" (nell’omonima canzone") "is a golden ring", vi troverete al cospetto di professori pedanti e bacchettoni bravi solo a criticare ("hand that pen over to me, poetaster!" – e quel "poetaster!" dice tutto, come una versione comica e sciancata dell’ headmaster di Morrissey -) e ancora costellazioni ("Cassiopeia"), cigni bianchi ("Swansea"), gente che succhia limoni ("This Side Of The Blue") e che distrugge la propria cena a colpi di karate ("The Book Of Right-On"). E poi il punto più alto di tutta l’opera, quel coro di bambini che in "Peach, Plum, Pear" canta la frase "I am sad" con il tono di chi non gliene può fregare di meno, esattamente all’opposto (e quindi in maniera identica) dei bimbi che alle feste scolastiche di carnevale intonano quelle canzoni tipo "ah che divertimento!" quando in realtà si stanno evidentemente e bellamente rompendo i coglioni.

E a chiudere il disco stavolta non è l’ultima, splendida canzone, ma quel cuoricino rosso rosso disegnato nel booklet sotto i ringraziamenti, quasi a ricordarci che la musica è, soprattutto, una questione di cuore.

di Nicola Mazzocca

Artist: Joanna Newsom
Title: The Milk-Eyed Mender
Label: Drag CityDC263CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 23 Mar 2004
Genre: Folk, World, & Country, Rock
Style: Acoustic, Avantgarde, Folk

Songs:
01 Bridges and Balloons [3:43]
02 Sprout and the Bean [4:33]
03 The Book of Right-On [4:30]
04 Sadie [6:02]
05 Inflammatory Writ [2:51]
06 This Side of the Blue [5:21]
07 "En Gallop" [5:08]
08 Cassiopeia [3:20]
09 Peach, Plum, Pear [3:34]
10 Swansea [5:06]
11 Three Little Babes [3:43]
12 Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie [4:21]

Credits:
Joanna Newsom : Harp [Lyon & Healy Style 15], Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Harpsichord, Piano
Noah Georgeson : Guitar (track 6), Vocals (track 11)
Written by Joanna Newsom (tracks: 1 to 10, 12)


Joanna Newsom (2004) The Milk-Eyed Mender

lunedì 29 giugno 2015

June of 44 (1995) Engine Takes to the Water


Biografia:
Hanno fatto breccia nella scena post-rock americana con una musica imprevedibile. E il loro nome, June of 44, continua ad alimentare la curiosità del pubblico. "Ci pare un periodo interessante della Storia - spiega il chitarrista, Jeff Mueller - e quando lo abbiamo scelto stavamo leggendo le lettere che Henry Miller scrisse proprio nel 1944". Ma quali sono le radici di questa band statunitense che, con il suo nuovo album "Anahata", è riuscita ancora una volta a spiazzare tutti?
Per scoprirlo, bisogna partire da Louisville, Kentucky. E' qui che, sul finire dello scorso decennio, un gruppo di musicisti hardcore inizia a rallentare la propria musica, inserendo elementi progressive, jazz e pop, e dando così vita a una delle più importanti scene musicali degli anni Novanta.

Tanto sembrava incredibile che le migliori rock band della prima parte della decade provenissero tutte da Seattle, tanto oggi si fa fatica a contare la quantità di gruppi provenienti a Louisville. Se il grunge si limitava però a trapiantare nei '90 l'hard rock di vent'anni prima (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple ecc.), quello che avveniva con il movimento post-rock rappresentava un passo in avanti decisivo, seppur poco accessibile.
I Codeine, autori di un rock in moviola che la critica battezzò "slowcore", gli Slint, autori del fondamentale "Spiderland", e gli Squirrel Bait furono i codificatori del nuovo genere, seguiti da una schiera di imitatori. Tutte le prime band del post-rock di Lousville, però, si sciolsero presto, a differenza di quelle di Chicago (Tortoise in testa), destinata a diventare la città di punta del movimento.

I June of 44 fanno parte della seconda generazione della scena di Louisville, anche se composti in parte da membri dei "vecchi" Codeine e Rodan. Il loro esordio avviene infatti nel 1995 con Engine Takes to the Water, un ottimo album in cui il gruppo stupisce per abilità nel costruire trame strumentali imprevedibili e sempre cariche di tensione. La loro caratteristica principale sta nel saper cambiare ritmo, espandendo e d'un tratto comprimendo il loro suono.
I successivi Tropics And Meridians e l'EP The Anatomy of Sharks accrescono la loro fama nell'ambiente underground.
Nel 1998 Four Great Points accentua gli elementi melodici delle loro composizioni, con un sapiente utilizzo della tromba, suonata da Fred Erskine, e un cantato che non si limita più a declamare versi. Tutti i più importanti esponenti della nuova scena virano nel frattempo verso un pop raffinato, abbandonando le sonorità più ardite. E i June of 44 sembrano in piena sintonia con tutto il movimento.

Ma con Anahata, una nuova svolta. E' un album che porta verso territori difficili, in una sorta di minimalismo post-rock psichedelico. Paesaggi alla Morricone, una batteria mai così marziale e un canto sempre sommesso, quasi svogliato e stonato, rendono questo lavoro bizzarro e straniante, ma denso di poesia. Quasi un ritorno alle origini, insomma, verso le illuminanti, anche se spesso difficili, composizioni del primo post-rock, ma allo stesso tempo un passo in avanti, che metabolizza le aperture pop degli ultimi anni in un suono difficilmente imitabile.

di Simone Corini

Artist: June of 44
Title: Engine Takes to the Water
Label: Quarterstick RecordsQS32CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 20 Jun 1995
Genre: Post Rock
Style: Post Rock, Math Rock, Slow Core

Songs:
1 Have a Safe Trip, Dear [8:26]
2 June Miller [3:28]
3 Pale Horse Sailor [3:36]
4 Mindel [3:26]
5 I Get My Kicks for You [6:56]
6 Mooch [6:04]
7 Take It With a Grain of Salt [5:17]
8 Sink Is Busted [4:03]

Credits:
Fred Erskine : Bass
Doug Scharin : Drums
Jeff Mueller : Vocals, Guitar
Sean Meadows : Vocals, Guitar

Recorded by James Murphy

Notes:
Printed at Fireproof Press, Chicago, Illinois.
Recorded at Plantain Recording House, Dec. 12-15 1994.
Rehearsed at 174 E. 2nd #5F, New York, NY 10009,
& at Rexville in Brooklyn, Nov. 16 - Dec. 11 1994.

In Groups:
Fred Erskine : Abilene, The Boom, The Crownhate Ruin, FREDDIE T & THE PEOPLE, HiM, Hoover, June of 44, Just A Fire, The Sorts
Doug Scharin : Activities of Dust, Blktop Project, Codeine, Directions, Enablers, HiM, June of 44, Loftus, Mice Parade, Out In Worship, Out of Worship, Rex
Jeff Mueller : June of 44, King G & The J Krew, Rodan, Shipping News, Truckstop
Sean Meadows : June of 44, Lungfish, The Sonora Pine


June of 44 (1995) Engine Takes to the Water

domenica 28 giugno 2015

Lungfish (1997) Indivisible


Artist: Lungfish
Title: Indivisible
Label: Dischord Records - DIS106CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 1997
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock, Post Rock

Songs:
01 Indivisible [3:56]
02 You Did Not Exist [5:22]
03 e=fu [1:25]
04 Urania [2:51]
05 Organ Harvest [5:04]
06 Yellow Sun [1:37]
07 William Fuld [2:59]
08 Tick Tock [2:52]
09 Cut To Fit The Mouth [2:27]
10 Fill The Days [4:03]
11 Sin To Live [3:05]

Band:
Daniel Higgs - vocals
Asa Osborne - guitar
Sean Meadows - bass
Mitchell Feldstein - drums

Notes & Credits:
Recorded on August 27, 28, 1996 at Inner Ear, Arlington, VA.
Engineered by Don Zientara
Mixed by Lungfish and Don Zientara
Layout by Jason Farrell
Die 116 (1994) Damage Control


Artist: Die 116
Title: Damage Control
Label: Wreck-AgeWAR017-2
Format: CD, EP
Country: US
Released: 1994
Genre: Hardcore
Style: Hardcore

Songs:
1 Last Laugh [3:11]
2 Over [2:44]
3 7 Years [3:11]
4 Jesus Complex [2:58]
5 Dislogic [3:45]

Credits:
Gavin Van Vlack : Bass
Andrew Gormley : Drums
Pat Ruh : Guitar
Pete Tyler : Vocals

Notes:
Martin Bisi : Producer
Recorded at Gunpoint at B.C. Studios, Brooklyn.


Die 116 (1994) Damage Control

sabato 27 giugno 2015

Tara Jane O'Neil (2014) Where Shine New Lights


Tara Jane ONeil's music is integrated and contextual, idiosyncratic and deeply psychedelic, akin to a lucid dream journal caught on magnetic tape. She appears to be interested in all sounds equally. In her tireless search for a music that mirrors and reflects her alchemical, deeply syncretic approach to sound, color, language, surface and texture, she has found herself in a somewhat singular category.

Her concerns are free from fussing about form. Her albums posit some free space that owes more to improvisors and painters than singer-songwriters or new age synthesizer baths. She is still interested in songs, and she has always been a wordsmith, but her songs don't need to have words to signify. When words are utilized, she doesn't waste them. They are beautifully mystical outbursts of visionary poesis, but their narrative power is located within and informed by, the space, the harmonic color, the context in which they are sung.

Choral voicings spread out across the stereo field like muted cloud formations split by sudden outbursts of vibrant color, verdant mosses on ancient stones, opal sized windows of clear blue set against a vast horizon. Pump organ drones swell and respirate, patient and slow, with softly resonant gongs from the roof of the world. This is music about healing, about listening, about surviving and transmuting the strange inheritance of language. Moving towards a direct perception of apparent reality through collaboration, breath, sound and song.

TJO has always been a shapeshifter. Listen to this new album with open ears, forgetting any previous incarnation, or perception of what you believe this mercurial artist to be or to have been. Using some very basic recording equipment and her vivid musical imagination, she has achieved a rare essentialism wherein all unnecessary elements have been stripped away leaving only the most indispensable sounds. Concise, but expansive, stripped of unnecessary gestures; guitars resonate, amps hum, and an exquisite, languid melancholia appears out of the haze.

Artist: Tara Jane O'Neil
Title: Where Shine New Lights
Label: KrankyKRANK 184 CD
Format: CD
Country: USA & Canada
Released: 27 Jan 2014
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Ethereal, Experimental, Drone, Ambient

Songs:
01 Welcome
02 Wordless In Woods
03 This Morning Glory
04 Over. Round, In A Room. Found.
05 Glow Now
06 The Lull The Going
07 Elemental Finding
08 All Now Vibe
09 The Signal, Wind
10 The Signal, Lift
11 Below Below As Above
12 New Lights For A Sky

Notes:
Includes performances by Tim Barnes, Jean Cook, Corey Fogel, Anna Huff, Daniel Littleton, Elizabeth Mitchell, Ida Pearle, and Wilder Zoby.

Engineers: Warren Gray; Tara Jane O'Neil; Tara Key


Tara Jane O'Neil (2014) Where Shine New Lights

venerdì 26 giugno 2015

Solbakken (1997) Limited Brazen Sound


Artist: Solbakken
Title: Limited Brazen Sound
Label: HooverflagHF 01
Format: CD, Album
Country: Netherlands
Released: 27 Oct 1997
Genre: Post Rock
Style: Post Rock

Songs:
01 Black as Soot [3:40]
02 Silent Executioner [3:00]
03 Outcome the Blizzard [2:21]
04 Vademecum [3:08]
05 Honey in the Wound [2:11]
06 Long Red Caravan [3:09]
07 Downerlist [1:50]
08 Evander [3:23]
09 Broad in the Nude Lighter [4:47]
10 Gaybar Mostly Woman [2:17]
11 Meesage from the Fire [2:31]

Credits:
Pieter Kloos : Producer (tracks: 1-11)

Notes:
Hooverflag is a division of Konkurrent


Solbakken (1997) Limited Brazen Sound

martedì 23 giugno 2015

Lamb (1996) Lamb


Artist: Lamb
Title: Lamb
Label: Fontana532 968-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK & Europe
Released: 30 Sep 1996
Genre: Electronic
Style: Trip Hop, Downtempo, Drum n Bass, Experimental

Songs:
01 Lusty
02 God Bless
03 Cotton Wool
04 Trans Fatty Acid
05 Zero
06 Merge
07 Gold
08 Closer
09 Górecki
10.1 Feela
10.2 Cotton Wool (Fila Brazillia Mix)

Lamb are : Andrew Barlow & Louise Rhodes

Credits:
The Chainsaw Sisters : Cello
Jon Thorne : Double Bass
Paddy Steer : Double Bass
Guitar – Steve Christian : Guitar
Graham Massey : Vibraphone

Rick Myers : Design
Mastered by Ian Cooper
Mixed by Aiden Love (tracks: 7), Ali Staton (tracks: 1 to 6, 8 to 10)
Photography By [Booklet] Karen Lamond
Recorded by [Additional] Ali Staton
Written by Andrew Barlow, Louise Rhodes

Notes:
Track 10.2 is unlisted, it begins at 8:45 seconds of the last track, after 2 minutes of silence. The total duration of track 10 is 17:12.

Track 10.2 Remix [Uncredited] – Fila Brazillia

lunedì 22 giugno 2015

Heatmiser (1994) Cop And Speeder


Artist: Heatmiser
Title: Cop And Speeder
Label: Frontier Records - 31063-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 1994
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock

Songs:
01 Disappearing Ink [2:27]
02 Bastard John [2:57]
03 Flame [2:47]
04 Temper [3:33]
05 Why Did I Decide To Stay [3:01]
06 Collect To NYC [2:55]
07 Hitting On The Waiter [1:56]
08 Busted Lip [3:52]
09 Antonio Carlos Jobim [3:10]
10 It's Not A Prop [3:37]
11 Something To Lose [4:10]
12 Sleeping Pill [3:08]
13 Trap Door [3:23]
14 Nightcap [2:56]

Group Members :
Elliott Smith (1969 / 2003) Rest In Peace
John Moen
Neil Gust
Sam Coomes
Tony Lash


Heatmiser (1994) Cop And Speeder
Russian Circles (2011) Empros


Artist: Russian Circles
Title: Empros
Label: Sargent House - SH066
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 25 October 2011
Genre: Rock
Style: Post Rock

Songs:
1 309 [8:50]
2 Mládek [7:40]
3 Schiphol [6:16]
4 Atackla [7:27]
5 Batu [6:17]
6 Praise Be Man [4:34]

Band:
Mike Sullivan - Guitar
Brian Cook - Bass Guitar
David Turncrantz - Drums

Credits:
Produced by Brandon Curtis & Russian Circles
Engineered by Brandon Curtis & Mike Lust
Mixed by Brandon Curtis
Mastered by Joe Lambert
Mastered at JLM
Recorded in Chicago at Phantom Manor Studios in April 2011
Album Layout by Sonny Kay

Accordian & Cello by Phil Karnatz
Vocals on Praise be Man by Brian Cook


Russian Circles (2011) Empros

domenica 21 giugno 2015

Jen Wood (1997) Getting Past The Static


Artist: Jen Wood
Title: Getting Past The Static
Label: WIN RecordsWIN 026
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 01 Oct 1997
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk Rock, Indie Rock

Songs:
01 Invitation To Plastic [04:26]
02 Caught Halo [09:44]
03 Three Thrones Torn [06:05]
04 Bend [04:39]
05 Candy [01:25]
06 Sent Over [03:23]
07 Your Turn [04:29]
08 Q is for Question [03:58]
09 Bullet Box [04:24]
10 Spoken For [03:37]
11 Stay [07:05]
12 Ocean [10:15]

Credits:
Jen Wood: vocals & guitar
Danny Frankel: snare drum, bongos, sizzle cymbal & hi-hat (tracks: 1, 3, 6)
Petra Haden: violin & mandolin (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 12)

Produced by Tom Grimley at Poop Alley
Mastered at Tower Mastering by Mark Chalecki
Photography: Doug Aitken
Etchings: Cathy Begien
Layout Concept: Jen Wood, Doug Aitken
Design: Endless


Jen Wood (1997) Getting Past The Static

sabato 20 giugno 2015

Made In Mexico (2005) Zodiac Zoo


Artist: Made In Mexico
Title: Zodiac Zoo
Label: Skin Graft RecordsGR77CD
Format: CD
Country: US
Released: 04 Oct 2005
Genre: No Wave
Style: No Wave, Noise, Punk

Songs:
01 Farewell Myth [4:21]
02 Infrared Eye [3:24]
03 Monster In Time [3:13]
04 Clockwork [4:22]
05 Occam's Razor [3:57]
06 International Zombie [2:50]
07 Napalm Springs [1:44]
08 A Cannibal Tale [4:53]
09 Solanas [4:27]
10 Ultraviolet Arms [3:35]
11 Face Of The Earth [4:27]
12 Black Rabbit [2:58]

Band:
Rebecca Mitchell: vocals
Jon Loper: bass
Dare Matheson: drums
Jeff Schneider: guitar

Notes:
Recorded by Keith at Machines With Magnets
Design by Dare Matheson, Jill at Beware of Camera and Mark Fischer

'Face Of The Earth' originally by MX-80 Sound


Made In Mexico (2005) Zodiac Zoo

venerdì 19 giugno 2015

Black Taj (2008) Beyonder


Black Taj's second full-length, Beyonder, considers again how to make classic rock sound new. Beyonder also answers any lingering questions surrounding Black Taj's rock pedigree. Black Taj's ability to negotiate a variety of classic rock styles, the genres and conventions that form the foundation for so much of the music of the late 1960s and early 1970s, evidences the musicianship that fans of Polvo and Idyll Swords are already well familiar.

"Move Me," "Cold Comfort" and "L.A. Shift" are the clearest indicators Black Taj has yet provided of Popson and Brylawski's shared past in Polvo. "Fresh Air Traverse" and "Only for a Moment" sound like Disraeli Gears-era Cream-when Clapton's vocals were at their most affected and polyrhythmic exchanges between guitar and Ginger Baker's kinetic percussion recalled the psych-prog experimentation of their art rock contemporaries in Soft Machine. "Cold Comfort" and "Little Child/Idyll Hill" offer examples of Black Taj's most brutal live jams, as does the direct-to-tape version of "Spacewash" included here.

Artist: Black Taj
Title: Beyonder
Label: Amish RecordsAMI 029
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2008
Genre: Post Rock
Style: Post Rock, Indie Rock

Songs:
1 Move Me [4:51]
2 Fresh Air Traverse [5:14]
3 Cold Comfort [6:14]
4 Damascus [3:43]
5 Spacewash [1:42]
6 Only For a Moment [3:41]
7 L.A. Shift [3:31]
8 Little Child / Idyll Hill [5:05]

Black Taj are:
Thomas Atherton : Drums
Dave Brylawski : Guitar, Vocals
Grant Tennille : Guitar
Steve Popson : Bass Guitar

Credits:
Recorded by Brian Quast (track 4), Nick Petersen (tracks: 1-3, 5-8)

Notes:
Some members of Black Taj are Polvo


Black Taj (2008) Beyonder

giovedì 18 giugno 2015

Black Taj (2005) Black Taj


Black Taj's debut album re-introduces the guitar work of Idyll Swords-band mates Dave Brylawski (formerly of Polvo) and Grant Tennille, as well as the rhythmically punctuated bass playing of Steve Popson (also formerly of Polvo). The record was recorded over the course of the last year with various sets of ears behind the board, including Ash Bowie (Polvo / Libraness) and SuperQuanic Studio builder and Cherry Valence member Brian Quast.

While the musicians in Black Taj have previously explored various permutations of rock--Eastern-inflected folk, psychedelic, punk, 90s angularity--Black Taj returns its sound to Rock's center. With the solid drum work of Tom Atherton, Black Taj's riffage gestures towards the expansive and cone-rattling string sorcery of the sixties and seventies.

Artist: Black Taj
Title: Black Taj
Label: Amish RecordsAMI 021
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2005
Genre: PostRock
Style: Post Rock, Indie Rock

Songs:
1 Back to the Bridges [7:31]
2 Cinema Style [3:37]
3 Clover [5:57]
4 Self Soothing [1:54]
5 Roots [4:44]
6 Octastone [5:35]
7 Beyonder [5:45]
8 Red Jr. [3:49]
9 Woke Up Tired [5:21]

Black Taj are:
Thomas Atherton : Drums
Dave Brylawski : Guitar, Vocals
Grant Tennille : Guitar
Steve Popson : Bass Guitar

Credits:
Mixed by Phil Manley (tracks: 6,8,9)
Recorded by Ash Bowie (tracks: 1,3,4), Ash Bowie (tracks: 2,5,7), Jerry Kee (tracks: 2,5,7), John Byrd (tracks: 1,3,4), Jonathan Kreinik (tracks: 6,8,9), Nick Petersen (tracks: 1,3,4)

Notes:
Some members of Black Taj are Polvo


Black Taj (2005) Black Taj