New Music: Andrew Bird, Maju, Mt. Gigantic

Andrew Bird - Simple X (Fat Possum 2007)

Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha / Fat Possum

Thanks to Andrew Bird, we now know what it takes for a quality musician to be labeled as “Breaking” by Rolling Stone: a decade-plus career, six full-length albums (three of which came with a good amount of acclaim), a few style changes and more press than you can shake your fist at AND THEN Rolling Stone decides it’s their duty to notify you, the ignorant public, that Mr. Bird is an up-and-coming, break-out potential artist… that’s quality journalism. All right, enough RS slandering, but it’s just kind of sad because Chicago’s most darling and cherished (among the indie-rock crowd) singer/songwriter in all actuality sounds more like he is coasting into a comfortable and realized sound with his seventh LP, first for Fat Possum Records, than really breaking new ground. Gaining momentum as an auxiliary member of the retro-swinging Squirrel Nut Zippers in the mid-90s, Bird first hit the scene with an eclectic combination of New Orleans swing and Eastern-European gypsy-folk (which he was way ahead of the curve with) before changing course and letting the more quirky aspects of his sound act as a supplementary characteristic to his refined and amiable, almost adult alternative, brand of laid-back pop-rock. With the clever lyrics, sophisticated sound and just a warming vibe to 2001’s The Swimming Hour and 2003’s Weather System, Bird gained a significant amount of momentum in the indie-rock community. In my opinion, this all culminated musically and hype-ally(?) with 2005’s excellent Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs which just has this underlying quirk that’s impossible to describe but easily felt and certainly resonated with the independent music community. So now we get to the up-coming Armchair Apocrypha that has had the indie blogosphere chirping endlessly for the last month or two. Everything we’ve come to expect from the last couple of albums is here: the deadpan vocals, witty lyrics, buoyant string plucks, swirls of violin, inviting atmosphere and Bird’s inhuman whistling that easily makes Peter, Bjorn and John green with envy. But is this a good thing? Where is that surprising burst that made his prior albums so infectious? Where is the idiosyncratic whim we’ve come to love from Bird? Well it’s there, but I don’t believe it resonates as much since we’ve come to expect it. To be perfectly honest, the album kind of bores me. Not that the music has degenerated by any means, but it just seems to coast rather than bounce, and that’s not a good thing. My favorite moments come when frequent collaborator and Anticon artist Martin Dosh adds his slightly manipulated, skittering drumming and endearing keyboard melodies to the mix, “Simple X” for example, which by no coincidence is my tune of choice. Bird whistles heavenly over the shuffling beat, he sings in quick phrases and even let’s out a falsetto or two; then about half-way through, Dosh breaks into an almost Brazilian beat and Bird supplies an Oriental-leaning violin accompaniment. If there were more tracks like this, I’d be ranting and raving all over the page. The truth is though, the majority of the album is safe, comforting and predictable with Bird’s résumé in mind, which I think hurts an artist so talented and known for his ability to switch-up styles. Then again, could he really asked for a better album to breakout into the Rolling Stone-curated mainstream? I have a hard time criticizing Bird because he is such an endearing character and seemingly the quintessential “nice guy,” and as my friend relayed after she caught his recent Chicago performance: “everything he does is so awkward and it’s just so cute I want to melt in his arms.” Sadly though, Armchair Apocrypha lacks that charming awkwardness that is so essential to his reputation and music and those of us familiar with the back-catalog are left a bit unsatisfied.






Maju - Chabashira (originally Extreme 2001, reissued 2007)

Maju – Maju-3 / Extreme

Originally released in 2001, Maju-3 is not so mysteriously the third proper full-length from Japanese duo Maju (pronounced may-you). Originally formed as a solo outfit in 1997 by multi-talented producer and musician Sakana Hosomi, Maju became the outlet for his collaborations with Masaki Narita, an active session musician for both commercial work and the popular J-pop scene. Both artists began their careers as keyboardists and share a heavy pastoral influence from growing up in secluded regions of Japan but are now relocated to the neon metropolis of Tokyo, a contrast omniscient in their albums under this moniker. The duo recorded heavily in the very late 90s and early 00s releasing five albums in a three years span on Australian imprint Extreme and German ambient connoisseurs Mille Plateaux, culminating in this album of fully realized micro-house leaning ambient. Though there are very few details listed in the liner notes, the music sounds almost fully created from synthetic keyboards or at the very least, heavily processed analog instrumentation. Typically large palettes of soft, humming frequencies are used as a foundation for supporting pings, clanks and skitters that are looped with precision. This theme is presented in varying degrees from the slow moving, glacial album opener “Resonance of Forms” to the near formless bustling of severed wavelengths during “Helix.” It’s a sound descended from the great ambient zeuses Eno and Riley but brought up-to-date with the microscopic digital splicing of laptops. It’s Tokyo at 4 in the morning: walking to the comforting hum of a city built on electricity and hearing all the tiny nuances of the varying frequencies created by a million electronic hues. Not to mention an occasional sputtering frayed wire that instantly grabs your attention in such a calm, soothing drift of a sound. With the growing popularity of artists like Fennesz, Tim Hecker and the Ghostly International roster, I can see why Extreme is giving this record a second go around. Slightly before it’s time, Maju-3 has a quiet, synthetic and anonymous elegance to it, like a series of precise frequency origami or a collection of graceful tonal haiku.






Mt. Gigantic - Blessed be the Bicycle (Friends and Relatives 2007)

Mt. Gigantic – Gatherings and Gleanings / Friends and Relatives

Collective-inspired music can be fun. Lots of ideas get tossed around, the best of which are picked out and pieced together to form one song born out of the overarching idea and individual musical snippets snuggly fit-together. But what happens when no ideas get tossed out? What happens if the collective says fuck it and forces the large square peg into the circular hole? What happens when they shove the triangle peg through after that? Mt. Gigantic happens, that’s what. The Wayne Williams led Bloomington, IN collective known as Mt. Gigantic create a rambunctious noise-pop sound of harsh contrasts and tumultuous song structures. The 14-member band comes from a number of different projects and brings their influences pummeling together: the quirky indie-pop of Half-Handed Cloud, the weirdo frantic rock of Rapider Than Horse Power, the lo-fi folk of Vollmar, the goofy cuteness of Matty Pop Chart and the anti-folk of Kimya Dawson. All the backgrounds are tossed in a blender, puréed for a few minutes and poured into a steaming espresso, which gets fed to a wily forest imp riding a horribly rabid but still pretty cute bunny rabbit and unleashed into the night with a tape recorder. For example, “Blessed be the Bicycle” starts innocently enough, a little bit of jangling indie-pop with male/female vocals; they then simultaneously yelp, break into a quick spoken word and spiral into a little angular punk before start/stopping the rest of the song between sleepy xylophone-laced pop and screeching atonal rock. The rest of album follows suit with collective yelling, odd chord progressions, toy instruments here, ravaging noise there, a little Polyvinyl pop sitting next to 5RC avant-rock leaving the only predictable element being that you know the polar opposite sound is coming next. Gleanings and Gatherings is obviously not going to reach far past some fun-loving college radio stations but who really cares? It’s a colorful DIY party encased in a silicone disc where everyone gets to try their idea no matter how wacky, play their instrument as loud as they can and yell their fucking hearts out with huge smiles on their faces. How can you hate on that?

New Music: Marnie Stern, Bob & Gene, Glenn Branca

Marnie Stern - Vibrational Match (Kill Rock Stars 2007)

Marnie Stern – In Advance of the Broken Arm / Kill Rock Stars

Goddamn there is no better feeling than when an album completely catches you by storm. My boy George over at the wonderful promotions group Terrorbird has been going on and on about this girl from the upper east side over the last few weeks and while I absolutely trust his taste, pushing artists on his roster is what he gets paid for and that's something you can't ignore as a music director. But I gotta say, he was on the mark with this one because I'll be damned if haven't kept In Advance of the Broken Arm on repeat since it fell in my lap a few days ago. Marnie Stern is in the rare class of artists that can live in the spirit of their influences without coming off as a second-hand product of that sound. The marniestern1 MySpace page reiterates the blatantly obvious under the 'influences' tab: Hella, Orthrelm, Yoko Ono, Deerhoof, Animal C, Khaki King, US Maple, Ex-Models. Ravaging spazz-punk, off-centered art-pop, mathy post-punk, curious no wave and even a little bit of guitar virtuoso thrown in for good measure; it's all hear in it's wonderfully obtuse splendor and Stern not only embraces each but adds her own fingerprint as well. The avant-garde rock stylings of Orthrelm and (most obviously) the guitar-drum schizophrenia of Hella are the two closest points of influence and not just because Zach Hill is acting as producer, drummer and flesher-outer. Stern, while still developing her own unique style, has completely embraced the Mick Bar, Spencer Seim and Don Caballero brand of manic finger-tapping and fractured approach to guitar playing, and she's pretty fucking impressive at it. With Zach Hill behind the skins, you get pretty close to Hella 2.0 but Stern's femininity sends her album spiraling off into Sleater-Kinney/Melt Banana/girls-fucking-rocking-out-and-blowing-your-mind territory. And perhaps most surprising with the genre at hand, Stern has got an impressive voice that can quickly jump from a subdued elegant pop croon to a snarling high-pitched yelp. Teamed with her off-kilter, fragmentary lyrics, she is able to keep every song dynamic and unpredictable. "Put All Your Eggs in One Basket and Then Watch that Basket!!!" is really poppy, catchy and fun despite the gnawing guitar (a technique Hella has perfected) while "The Weight of a Rock" leans toward the avant-garde with seemingly stream-of-conscious drum clatter and Sterns processed voice. In Advance of the Broken Arm is fun, capricious and vibrant, and it can please everyone from the riot grrrls to the avant-metal heads to the art-pop kids. It's going to be most exciting to see how Stern progresses though as she continues to develop her songwriting and guitar playing, and it would be especially cool of she teamed up with some of Hill's many compatriots for a completely new project. But for now it's time to hit the repeat button yet again and listen to Stern try to both emulate her influences and discover a sound all her own; as she reveals in "Logical Volume": "This is my Thunderroad / This is my Marquee Moon / This is my Orthrelm in tune / This is my love for you."






Bob & Gene - Gotta Find a Way (Daptone 2007, orginally Mo Do 1968ish)

Bob & Gene – If This World Were Mine… / Daptone

At the turn of the 20th century, Buffalo, NY was a bustling city growing exponentially thanks to its geographic location at the eastern end of Lake Erie and the critical Erie Canal junction. They had an ever-increasing number of steel and grain mills that attracted immigrants and workers from all over the US and even was the first American city to take advantage of hydroelectric power thanks to nearby Niagara Falls. Everything turned sour though in 1957 when the St. Lawrence Seaway, a system of canals that allowed ships on the Great Lakes to completely bypass Buffalo, opened and almost 50% of the population headed elsewhere for work. The majority of the industries shut down and the city never bounced back (interestingly enough, it’s one of the two American cities with a smaller population in 2000 than 1900). Obviously enough, a poverty-stricken Buffalo circa 1967 was not the most fertile soil for growing a music scene so whenever a group gained popularity, they promptly headed to bigger markets, i.e. Darrell Banks and Jimmie Raye heading to Detroit. There was at least one man who was determined to cultivate the scene though: singer, saxophonist, factory worker and neighborhood favorite William Nunn. In an attempt to help steer the youth of his area away from trouble, he built a studio in his basement and joined the leagues of the many independent soul labels popping up by the dozen during those years; Mo Do Records (ahem, “I’m broke, I need some mo’ dough”) was born. 50 Orange Street quickly became the place to be for the youth of the Fruit Belt neighborhood. Like most labels being dug up today, Mo Do put out a small number of singles that played well over local radio but as quickly disappeared into obscurity; Nunn was forced to close the doors by 1971 for financial reasons. Of the Mo Do acts, one group seemed destine to break out, but came up just short of putting out their first LP. The duo of Bobby Nunn, William’s son, and Eugene Coplin put out a number of 45s recorded in the Orange Street basement between ’67 and ’71 that easily made them the most popular teenagers in all of central Buffalo. Dug up and remastered by New York soul music historian David Griffiths, this collection of twelve pop-soul tunes may not have had a significant impact on the entire genre of R&B music, but is individual, fun and worth your listening time. Building on an early funk and soul foundation, the teenage pop of Bob & Gene is a combination of the adolescent R&B and doo-wop of Frank Lymon and the Teenagers, the burgeoning smooth Philly soul of The Delfonics and the danceable Chicago soul of The Five Stairsteps. Being in their mid-teens, it’s certainly not a surprise that love is the subject of concentration or that they are copping a lot of the nuances from the bigger acts of the day (James Brown, Otis Redding, Motown). I actually dig the young, unpolished songwriting on cuts like “Gotta Find a Way” and their Marvin Gaye-inspired political shout-out “Somebody’s Doin It (War)” that really make the Bob & Gene sound one in it’s own. Then again, it has the opposite effect on a song like “It Won’t Go” when the falsetto never really can find the right pitch. As a whole, I definitely see the merit in releasing the full-length compiled for the first time thanks to the always dependable Daptone Records, though it does lack some of the jaw-dropping exoticness of re-releases put out by Numero Group or Now Again. Like just about all of the Buffalo musicians, Bobby Nunn eventually left Buffalo (Gene Coplin went into the ministry and still calls the City of Lights home) to continue his career in music. In fact, he helped mold the sound of hometown hero Rick fucking James! As well, he won a Grammy for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire member Philip Bailey and started his own independent label CCEG. Sadly though, William Nunn, the driving force behind all of this, passed away before seeing this album finally released.






Glenn Branca - Harmonic Series Chords (Atavistic 2007, performed 1989)

Glenn Branca - Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses / Atavistic

Well I had every intention of reviewing this first "official" release of Glenn Branca's thirty-minute piece from 1981, but the always amazing Dusted Magazine reviewed it just yesterday. Not that us Audiversitarians are so competitive that we just toss CDs aside when someone else beats us to the punch, but Dan Ruccia's review is so detailed and conclusive that anything I write would just be a sad rehash of his fine work. So rather than a futile attempt at it, I am just going to point you in the direction of his review and bow down in respect:

Dan Ruccia's Dusted Review

However, we are able to post a sample mp3 to go a long with it, so I have included the throbbing orchestral piece "Harmonic Series Chords" performed in 1989 that is tacked on to the end of the disc. Enjoy.

Radio Show Playlist 2/14

WLUW-FM Chicago, the wonderful home of Audiversity and the station I direct music for, is currently in the middle of our hugely important February pledge drive. We are a completely independent and listener-supported entity and donations contribute 95% of our yearly budget. If you are a fan of the station or Audiversity (which very much would not be a possibility without the station) please help by pledging here and clicking on the floating Beck! And we also have some thank you gifts featured here for your generosity and listen all week for chances to win some great concert tickets as well.

And the playlist that was catered somewhat to ticket giveaways:

6a:
1. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Parallel or Together? - The Tyranny of Distance (Lookout! 2001)
2. Television Personalities - You Kept Me Waiting Too Long Long Long Long Long Long Long Long (E*Vax of Ratatat Remix) - My Dark Places Remix EP (Domino 2007)
3. Andrew Douglas Rothbard - Indigo - Abandned Meander (Smooch 2006)
4. Antibalas - Hilo - Security (Anti- 2007)
5. Fela Kuti & the Africa 70 - Fefe Naa Efe - Gentleman (MCA 1973)
6. Exploding Star Orchestra - Cosmic Tomes for Sleeping Walking Lovers: Part 2 - We are all from somewhere else. (Thrill Jockey 2007)
7. Baja - Nona's Theme - Maps/Systemalheur (Stilll 2007)
8. Spaceways Incorporated - Red Hot Mama/Super Stupid - Thirteen Cosmic Standards by Sun Ra & Funkadelic (Atavistic 2000)
9. (Request) Pixies - La La Love You - Doolittle (4AD 1989)
10. Arab Strap - (Afternoon) Soaps - Ten Years of Tears (Chemikal Underground 2007)
11. The Black Swans - My Lips - Sex Brain EP (Bwatue 2006)

7a:
1. The Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane - Loaded (Atlantic 1970)
2. Nico - These Days - Chelsea Girl (Polygram 1967)
3. James Yorkston - The Brussels Rambler - The Year of the Leopard (Domino 2006)
4. Sparklehorse - Some Sweet Day - Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of the Mountain (Astralwerks 2006)
5. David Vandervelde - Jacket - The Moonstation House Band (Secretly Canadian 2007)
6. Woods - Hunover - At Rear House (Shrimper 2007)
7. Low Skies - You Can't Help Those People - All the Love I Could Find (Flameshovel 2006)
8. Adem - X is for Kisses - Love and Other Planets (Domino 2006)
9. Badly Drawn Boy - Something to Talk About - About a Boy (XL 2002)
10. Jamie Lidell - Multiply (In a Minor Key) - Multiply Additions (WARP 2006)
11. Tortoise - Six Pack - Standards (Thrill Jockey 2001)

New Music: Antibalas, Tim Hecker, The Black Swans

Antibalas - Hilo (Anti- 2007)

Antibalas – Security / Anti-

The opening track of Antibalas’s fourth proper full-length kicks off with staccato horn flares and a tinny polyrhythm, which is nothing too much out of the ordinary for this band of afrobeat, afro-latin and deep funk connoisseurs, but about half-way through it falls into a grooving rhythm of slightly overmodulated drums, a weird kind of space-funk keyboard bounce, handclaps and subtle touches of electronics followed by a breakdown consisting solely of percussively played metal (not the genre but the element, duh). When the horns reappear a minute later all the pieces of the song come together in a rather odd exclamation of genreless, geographicless music. Right from the beginning, the Brooklyn collective known mostly for bringing Fela’s music to the uncultured youth of America have broken into new ground of music that… wait for it… is not afrobeat; it’s Antibalas and nothing else. Really though, this should not be that surprising since they’ve been paving their own musical path since the 2002 sophomore release Talkatif which saw the group adding their own personal touch to the heavily inspired sound. 2004’s Who Is This America? garnished a lot of due acclaim and the 12+ member collective have been staying busy in the interim by heavily touring, contributing their talents to recordings by TV on the Radio, Medeski Martin and Wood, Baaba Maal and Gomez, and continuing to progress their own sound. Now signed to Anti-, the Antibalas crew brilliantly relocated to Chicago for a brief period to record with engineer/producer/drummer extraordinaire John McEntire at the studio Mecca known as Soma Electronic Music Studios (I’ll give you a second to wipe the drool). His influence can be easily heard as the band once infamous for paying homage to Fela expands on their usual musical penchant in a number of ways including the aforementioned album-opener “Beaten Metal,” the almost Caribbean groove of “Hilo,” the minimal approach of “Sanctuary” and solemn album capper “Age” (solemn! what happened to the rebellious party music??) I have to admit though, my favorite track, “Filibuster XXX,” harkens back to earlier Antibalas and is decisively afrobeat-driven with an excellent trumpet solo and vocalist Amayo rattling off quick vocal snaps of political confrontation. At only seven tracks, the shortest of which clocks in at just under 5 minutes, each song is given ample attention and features a different sound thanks to the many songwriters available in the group, but still sound particular to the band. Security is an excellent and diverse album from the purveyors of the worldly niche of American independent music that is thankfully ever expanding, and I can only hope that this post-afrobeat punch is only the tip of the iceberg.






Tim Hecker - I'm Transmitting Tonight (Alien8 2007, originally Mille Plateaux 2002)

Tim Hecker – Radio Amor / Alien8

Running a little bit of clever compare and contrast to really tie things together here at Audiversity (we do enjoy kidding ourselves to be clever people), I'm taking a look at Tim Hecker's recently re-released 2002 album, Radio Amor, that approaches the ambient genre from the opposite side of the recently reviewed Cirque from arctic sound pioneer Biosphere by utilizing a slow-burning sound rather than a decisively icey one. This ominous wave of heat comes care of a Caribbean sun that relentlessly duals the splashing sea Hecker is crossing in his album-inspiring quest towards neighboring Honduran islands way back in 1996. Listening to the record, you can almost see Hecker sitting starboard, feet dangling from the edge of the hitched shrimping vessel as he lets the environment settle into his ears: the sputter of the water against the side of the boat, shortwave radios crackling with static, wind blowing through and across surfaces causing natural harmonics to hum, the clang of iron latches pinging the metal mast, exotic tongues acting more as instruments than communicating devices. It's the music of a pre-ipodian civilization; it's pure, unadulterated ambience and Hecker's ability to recreate it is what's gained him such a surprisingly large audience. The Montreal producer began his musical career as laptop glitcher Jetone but since reverting to his given name in 2001 for more ambient work, he's accumulated quite an audience for the genre at hand. 2006's year-end list staple, Harmony in Ultraviolet released on Kranky, no doubt has a little to do with re-releasing this album that was initially put out by Mille Plateaux, an experimental sublabel of Force Inc, and out of print for the last few years. Hometown Alien8 is behind the push this time (they also put out his early recordings under their Substractif imprint), and it's revisiting, while hype driven, is well worth your time. As I dramatically introduced earlier, Radio Amor is an album inspired by voyaging the sea and the encapsulating ambient music that may not by realized by a pair of distracted ears. He achieves this organic sound through digital manipulation of subtle melody, controlled feedback and white noise. The album seems to progress with Hecker's voyage; the first four tracks contain a significantly greater amount of discernable melody (created from piano flutters), symbolizing the excitement and intake of this new environment. By "7000 Miles" though, the trip seems to be wearing on the passengers as the waves of static are noticeably more menacing, but settles into acceptance with the low frequencies of "Careless Whispers" two tracks later. "Azure Azure," the album's longest song, is an enclosing band of frequencies that builds by interconnecting the highs and lows as one, just like the blue of the sky and sea seems to become one in the same the longer you are surrounded completely by both. Thankfully though, "Trade Winds, White Heat" closes on a gentle vibe as resonant wind-chime-like tones tingle with care. As his acclaimed discography and wide audience attests, Hecker is a talented producer and musician. Revisiting Radio Amor is a welcomed glance and satisfying nod back that will rekindle prior praise for the record and educate newcomers on how he has progressed to Harmony in Ultraviolet.






The Black Swans - I.D.W.2 F. (Bwatue 2006)

The Black Swans – Sex Brain EP / Bwatue

"I don't want to fuck / I just want to spoon / I'm too sensitive of a man / To be any closer to you." Hmmm… is Jerry DiCicca sincere or is he pulling the ol' sensitive/reverse psychology card to… er, get a little sentimental action? Maybe it's his thick as tar drawl or the upbeat country-folk surrounding the lyrics, but I'm kinda leaning towards sincerity in this case. He elaborates a bit further: "And it's not really you / It's all about me / I get weird just thinking about / Being inside someone so pretty." Yeah, I think I'd call that sincerity or at least brutal honesty or perhaps a little self-loathing or possibly just straight creepiness. Either way, DiCicca and his fellow Black Swans tackle the immensely awkward subject of sex and the psychological games that are inescapable when it comes down to those intimate/dirty moments of being completely exposed to another. Released mid-06 but just making it's way around the radio circuit, the Sex Brain EP is one of those recordings that is just so odd it becomes fascinating. Musically, the closest and most-often used comparison is to 90s British indie act the Tindersticks who share their penchant for mumbling vocals, bizarre subject matter and dark romanticism. The Black Swans utilize a more country-folk foundation though and garnish it with atmospheric electric guitar, a moody violin and even a bit of avant-garde saxophone. But even though the music is captivating in it's own right, the lyrics are just too hard to ignore. Following the aforementioned "I.D.W.2 F." (ahem, I Don't Want 2 Fuck) opener, "Friends" narrates the relationship with a certain menacing friend we've all spent a regrettable night with, lady tequila, and the resulting consequences: "She pulled my pants down / And said she knows / My girlfriend" (gulp). "Your Hands" finds the inevitable partner-less evening, "It was sweat and shampoo / Now it's cocoa butter lotion." And for a little bit of a break from the stark forwardness of the rest of the EP, DiCicca goes all metaphor with "Dark Plums," "My body is a plum tree / Reach between my legs / Ripe are the fruits / You keep turning away." "My Lips" closes on a slightly optimistic note… musically at least (the female presence of Sara Jurcyk is to thank for that)… but the unattainable satisfaction of repeated sex with one person, even if the mutual feelings are strong, is just too much: "Will we wear out our welcome / As closeness grows dull? / Our bodies too familiar / My hard-on sinks into a lull." The Black Swans create an awkward sound, but how else can you really tackle subjects as… well awkward as sex. No matter how much we kid ourselves with the manufactured sexiness and plastic romanticism of displayed fornication, the act (and especially the steps leading up to it) is just strange and most of the time uncomfortable. But we do it nonetheless for as much emotional resonance as bodily satisfaction (oh… and I guess procreation is kinda important), and the awkwardness is something we should embrace just like the sound The Black Swans have cultivated. And truly, could there be a better way to really connect with someone than giggling at the intimate situation you've both found yourself stumbled into?

Used-Bin Bargains: Uganda

With Vice's recent reissuing frenzy of Boredoms here in the US, we thought it might be a good time to look back this week into a corner of the late-60s Jap-psych phenomenon that has only recently re-emerged.













Uganda - Pigmy (originally released 1972; Shadoks re-release 2006(?))

Uganda - Uganda / Shadoks

Like much of the rest of Africa, Uganda was in a period of serious unrest in 1972. Idi Amin (the "Last King of Scotland" or, as he preferred, "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular") had become another name in a growing list of fledgling African rulers ascending from the hangover of the UK's post-colonial withdrawal. After a military coup in 1971, Amin was now hunting down former president Milton Obote and forcing over 50,000 Asians into exile following a mere dream of his.

I give this draining history lesson as an intro because, in listening to Akira Ishikawa's forays into African tribal music with Uganda, one feels the whole calamity not just of the acid-psych movement of the late 1960s but the chaos surrounding the easing in of the new decade and the conflict associated with it in Africa also. A first listen to this four-song LP (of which, it is suspected by German reissue magnate Shadoks, only 400 copies were pressed) gives away the tribal rhythms that have experienced something of a renaissance with everything from the cowbell madness of punk-funk to the surprising success of the Congotronics series. Percussion is, it seems, all the rage these days. This is the strong-suit of Uganda.

As expected, information is scant. But more and more of these rarities are coming to light thanks to the overdue triumphs of Boris, Acid Mothers Temple and Boredoms. Clearly these bands have a root in what was going on nearly four decades ago, but the massive effort to uncover what was going on in Japan around this time still leaves little in the way of biographical profiles or recording histories. Les Rallizes Denudes could be the posterchildren for this movement to mine the depths of obscurity, but everybody from the Rallizes to San Ul-Lim to Foodbrain is garnering attention. You know this. So we try to piece the great Japanese psych-rock puzzle together ourselves, and though most of the Japanese acid bands were vaguely related to one another, Ishikawa had few tenuous connections before he wandered off into the African bush: He worked primarily as a solo artist (Drum Yagi Bushi came out the year before Uganda) and only shares a name with the Djarma guitarist. Perhaps he is better known for his Electrum venture with Count Buffalos in 1970. The Uganda experiment coupled him with Love Live Life +1 acid guitarist Kimio Mizutani, who is far more widely known. Most notable among his achievements is People's potentially life-altering masterpiece Buddha Meet Rock in 1971.

Both of these men were already dabbling in prog with jazz fusion and acid excess by '72, but Uganda was a new way of channeling the energy. It was also another excuse to keep the creative juices flowing via drug intake... But the grass they were smoking in Uganda must've passed through customs unnoticed: "Pigmy" is the concluding track from the album but, as you can hear, Ishikawa's composing was aided by the competent playing of a number of hired guns back in Japan under the influence of the Masai (not Masia) tribesmen. Back in Africa, Ishikawa was studying music with them; no one is really sure how long he was gone or where he was studying. It's clear that their percussion techniques did a number on him though, because "Na Tu Penda Sana" is one of the most awesome percussion solos committed to vinyl during the period. For half of its nine minutes, Mizutani puts his guitar down and lets Ishikawa get to it. Chronologically preceding it is the thundering 11-minute opener "Wanyama Na Mapambazuko," which remains the real centerpiece even as it sits at the top of the order. Representing one extreme of the Uganda sound, "Wanyama Na Mapambazuko" (which has to mean something fun in Japanese, though I can't be sure) builds slowly and then freaks out as good as any Super Roots series ever did before abruptly coming to a halt and then easing into "Na Tu Penda Sana," the kraut-child tinkler-gone-mindflaying of "Vita," and the standard-by-comparison "Pigmy." "Pigmy" represents the other extreme of Uganda's sound, a creative and totally listenable psych-rock number that would settle in comfortably but almost completely unnoticed on a Grade A psych mix CD. In short: It's good. Really good.

Recorded in glorious quadraphonic sound, this album was privately pressed and no one is sure who did it. Even still, the legacy of the anonymous Masai tribesmen Ishikawa worked with in the months leading up to Uganda remains. A good thing, too: Inadvertantly, Uganda is not just a one-off band stemming from the fruitful grounds of Japan's early-1970s Japan. This is a snapshot of two nations juxtaposed to one another: Japan on the rise, Uganda in descent. In one of the most critical junctures of its history, the pearl of Africa may have never been captured better.

New Music: Television Personalities, Ethan Rose, A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Television Personalities - You Kept Me Waiting Too Long Long Long Long Long Long Long Long Long (E*Vax of Ratatat Remix) (Domino 2007)

Television Personalities – My Dark Places Remix EP / Domino

It goes with out saying that Dan Treacy and his loose collective of bandmates known as the Television Personalities have been one of the most influential musical spirits of indie rock and pop. Aside from the vocal idolization from hugely influential bands themselves like the Jesus and Mary Chain, Pavement, Nirvana and the Pastels, the loose, whimsy and completely idiosyncratic pop of Treacy may be only rivaled by the Velvet Underground in uniqueness of the genre. Beginning in 1977, Treacy and company recorded sporadically over the next 30 years with a rotating cast reinventing their psychedelic pop, punk and new wave sound with moody, lo-fi songs that simultaneously caused furrowed brows and half-chuckled amazement. It’s pop music that’s impossible to determine whether it was improvised on the spot or obsessesed over to sound that way; as Nitsuh Abebe so perfectly stated in the Pitchfork review of 2006’s My Dark Places (the first Television Personalities album since 1998, Treacy spent an indefinite time on a prison boat (!?) due to drug abuse and waning mental health in the interim): “even in the moments where it’s close to being a musical disaster: You forgive those things the way you might with your best friend’s band.” Following in conjunction with a new album called Are We Nearly There Yet? (being released on February 20 in the US on Overground Records) is this 4-song remix EP of My Dark Places featuring, in order of appearance, E*Vax of Ratatat, I Will (Ian Williams) of Battles, Brooklyn female duo LingLing and noisescapers Black Dice. E*Vax backs “You Kept Me Waiting Too Long” with Ratatat’s catchy instrumental prowess featuring theremin crescendos, hand shakers and synth hooks that will stick in your head for days (not to mention eight more "Long’s" to the title). I Will reshapes the title track in typical Battles format, i.e. completely destructed and pieced back together in a seemingly obtuse manner that works confusingly well. The "Rainbows in Tunnels Mix" of "All the Young Children on Crack" features the clattering drums in the forefront with bright synth, guitar and electronics coloring a decisively dark track. And finally, Black Dice contribute their urban pagan noise-pop sound to the endearing "She Can Stop Traffic," a fitting collaboration since Black Dice definitely share a creative wavelength with Treacy. This is definitely a worthwhile EP for fans of Television Personalities and the bands involved.






Ethan Rose - Song Two (Locust 2006)

Ethan Rose – Ceiling Songs / Locust

Sadly, being in the radio biz, you have to sometimes overlook exceptional albums just because of factors like song-length. Now certainly being in independent or college radio gives you leeway in this aspect, but from my experience, I know even if I put an excellent album like Ethan Rose’s Ceiling Songs in our library the chances of it getting played are very slim. The record features three songs, two of which clock in at 15 and 20 minutes respectively, and it’s categorized as ambient music… gasp! Though most DJs at the wonderful WLUW are very open to all sorts of genres, the reality is they have limited time slots and each second of those two hours are coveted, so anything clocking over five minutes really has to warrant it being played. So because of all these factors, I hesitantly placed Ceiling Songs aside for way too long to concentrate on feeding the eager and impatient ears of my listening audience, and it’s a shame because as I revisit the recording, the more and more I get engulfed in it’s beauty. Released on the exceptional Chicago label Locust back in mid-September 06, Rose’s third LP features musique concrete with soul, transcendent tones sewed together with warm hiss and carefully chosen crackle to create a soothing sound. Interestingly enough, the starting point for this piece was an archaic “Happy Brithday” piano roll and a hand-cranked music box that played only “Jingle Bells.” Rose strategically removed notes and interrupted melodies to form unforeseen patterns of lulling tones then reconstructed and arranged them digitally. Laced with heavily manipulated strings, brass and percussion as well, Ceiling Songs is a study of hidden melodies and the obvious notion that a piece of music is never completed. “Song One” centers around slow moving and reversed music box notes (at least I think) that dissolve into chirping feedback and ebbing piano flurries. “Song Two,” which I link only because it’s the shortest, is the most ambient of the three with drawn-out string plucks and echoing piano notes that gently fold back on each other until they settle into emptiness. And the 20-minute conclusion, “Song Three,” begins much like “Song One” with a very subtle, almost nonexistent rhythm before brightening considerably in the latter half and concluding with shimmering electronic flutters and hollow, high-pitched whirls of feedback. Ceiling Songs is gorgeously and subtly textural as it exposes you to the innerworkings of not only archaic music mechanics like the music box but their resulting melodies as well. It’s music that was masterfully arranged by Rose but has been present since the mechanisms were created long before this recording; they just needed a set of understanding ears to be let loose from their rigid prison of locked gears and finite cranks.






A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Things Only I Can See (Notenuf 2007)

A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Scribble Mural Comic Journal / Notenuf

Could Grizzly Bear really be the next Postal Service? It’s been four years since Give Up dropped the colorful, crystal clear blips with heart-wrenching vocals on our collective and somewhat wincing ears and about two years since their popularity peaked. Concurrently, their devotees of crisp electropop have been waning in the last year as well, and in it’s place a sound washed with reverb, layered heavily and pulling influence in turn with typical 20 year cycles from late 60s psychedelia and late 80s shoegaze. In many ways it’s the pop antidote to the rigid perfectionism of the Postal Service, and Grizzly Bear is quickly becoming the figurehead for the sound. Enter A Sunny Day in Glasgow, a trio of siblings from Philadelphia who fit into this next style wave seamlessly. They turned some college radio heads with their mid-06 EP, The Sunniest Day Ever, and posted a four-star track on Pitchfork, which concurrently drizzled similar hype throughout the blogger hierarchy. The Daniels kids, mastermind Ben and vocalists Lauren and Robin, could not be more primed for indie take over with their debut full-length, Scribble Mural Comic Journal, and while not mind-blowing, it’s a solid record of dreamy shoegaze pop. Defining his sound for the last few years, Ben Daniels began earnestly with cassette recordings collaborating with friend and Glasgow art school-attendee Ever Nalens, who apparently lacked the foresight of Daniels and abandoned the cause back in 2005. This led to sisters Robin and Lauren taking over vocals as Ben moved back home to hone his craft. The resulting sound’s foundation is shoegaze’s sky encapsulating distortion and feedback with every pop hook or stuttering drum machine rhythm overmodulated with care and doused with enough aching reverb to produce a thick atmosphere. Ben is a talented multi-instrumentalist and songwriter as he refuses to settle for anything conventional and regularly experiments with atonal melodies and odd song structures. The Daniels sisters coo with ghostly falsettos that personally are a bit distracting; they remind me too much of the trip-hop singers of a decade past. There are songs where they work well with though, heralded single “C’mon” being the focal point, but I’d definitely prefer a more varying vocal presence or more experimental instrumental pieces like “Panic Attacks are What Make Me ‘Me’”. Be prepared for a good degree of shoegaze revivalist hype with the release of this record and an ominous Grizzly Bear reference, both of which are warranted but not to the degree that they will be stated. I’m certainly not denying the talent of the Daniels’ siblings, in fact I think it’s a pretty impressive record, but I also don’t think they are there quite yet. Hopefully Scribble Mural Comic Journal is not the peak of A Sunny Day in Glasgow but a solid stepping stone forward to such greater heights (hehe harhar hoho).

New Music: Yuksek, Distance, Lovepump United 7" Series Vol. One

Yuksek - Little Dirty Trip (Relish 2007)

Yuksek - Composer EP - Relish

MySpace used to be an exciting place. In those heady post-Friendster days, each new friend request held promise; people were people, not spambots, and the musical universe was seemingly free of towny bar bands looking to tally another hipster so that by osmosis they would seem more with it. So it was refreshing to be added the other day by this industrious young Frenchman, Yuksek, obviously out there grinding hard on the internet. About halfway through "Little Dirty Trip," I clicked "open new tab" so that I could add the song to my profile and STILL KEEP LISTENING. Turns out that Yuksek is a member of France's new foreign legion, a fresh breed of producer looking to make the waters fun once again, clearing out all the debris that for too long has littered the dance music scene with boring ten-minute debris and "take you on a journey" pretension. Don't get me wrong, there's a place for Villalobosian psychedelia but if you want to really get me up then stop that five-minute build and give it to me now now now. Yuksek does just that on this four-song EP featuring two originals and two remixes. "Composer" is muscular and sleek, definitely springing from Justice's heavy metal mentality, but it takes Institubes soldier, Surkin, to fully articulate the song's potential to grate and scrape its way into your heart. "Little Dirty Trip" is a real burner and could be polarizing in the way that "Mandarine Girl" and "Waters of Nazareth" have either created converts or birthed enemies, changing minds or sending purists running back to their stale, cheezball anthems or minimal wanking. Check the remix, too, from yet another Frenchman, Vicarious Bliss; it has more tricks than the original and really is like rubbing shoulders with sunshine. Imagine Rick James jamming with New Order, taking any sterility out of new wave and infusing it with cocaine-fueled fierceness. So there it is, Mr. Smooth House Man. The line has been drawn. Do you want to rock crowds or bore them into submission? Yuksek and his kind are coming up from behind.





Distance - Traffic (Planet Mu 2007)

Distance - My Demons - Planet Mu

The future is bleak, my friends. Global warming and Islamic fundamentalism are threatening humanity's ascension to a Type One Civilization. Theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku, gives us a 50/50 chance to escape the dark ages, but is a dystopian future all we can hope for? Take your pick: Mad Max's future-primitive existence, Snow Crash's hyper-commercialized suburban sprawl, Orwellian totalitarianism; it's all about pessimism. The church of dubstep is equally insistent on blowing out humanity's barely burning flame. Like fellow scientists Burial and Kode9, Distance creates an aural cyberpunk aesthetic. "Night Vision" is a fitting opener, dropping you trapdoor-style into murky sewers teeming with failed biological experiments. "Traffic" roars like a biomechanical mutant charging at full speed, and I really wish I had a song like it back in high school to soundtrack my Unreal Tournament killing sprees. Unlike other dubstep DJs, Distance has shunned grime MC's in favor of being totally instrumental. It's a smart move, getting away from the streets of 2007 in favor of urban explorations circa 2027. Yeah, words can paint pictures, but not always correct ones, and shedding the constraints of language allows My Demons to spread its chrome wings and deliver a cohesive vision. So lock this in a time capsule with climate change studies and a photo of Kim-Jong Il so that future people can say, "Damn, how did they not see it coming?"





Various Artists - 7" Series Volume One (Lovepump United 2006)

Crack Und Ultra Excema - Arbeit - Lovepump United

Check AIDS Wolf, half-naked and mouths agape, their minds duly blown by this four band, 2x7" compilation. Functioning as the NATO of noise rock, we have gathered here Crack Und Ultra Eczema (France), Pre (UK), Dmonstrations (USA), and the aforementioned AIDS Wolf (Canada...errr, Quebec), who kick things off with "Put Your Head On A Plate", aiming to decapitate us all with razor sharp guitar stabs. Chloe's vocals join right in with the maelstrom, vividly pleading with you that there is a killer outside and he just maimed your sister. "Bad Vibes" is just as literal, like anxiety grabbing hold of your throat and never ever letting go. Crack Und Ultra Excema was a real revelation to me. "Arbeit" is the true definition of industrial music, pounding and scraping like an old factory. Julie Le Pute's ghost in the machine vocals ever rising until the bottom falls out into broken bass slogging it out with what must be the sickest guitar effect known to man, sound converted into a million tiny, lacerating lights. Le Pute again shines on the bouncy "Rastafareich", invoking the detached delivery of Delta 5; "Ebola Day" is a panic-indusing post-punk guitar romp that would make James Chance a happy man. Pre is always in your face like a petulant kid hopped up on too much sugar. Their songs are mostly wide-eyed and sprinting like suicidal lemmings. With titles like "Dude Fuk" and "Big Dique", there's a punk-as-fuck attitude that goes way beyond dumb mohawks and safety pins. Seriously, its 2007, I thought punk was about not being stagnant. It's a shame when your daily look is a Halloween costume for some people. Theres nothing punk about being a stereotype. Keep moving, keep punching. Dmonstrations bring up the tail end with four tracks, all of them yelpy and disjointed. These guys are truly weird enough to call San Diego home and continue the great lineage of bands like Antioch Arrow, the Locust, and the Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower. Remember, this is only available on 2x7", and you know how the kids eat up colored vinyl, so snag this today before it becomes another No New York-type situation.

New Music: Minus the Bear, Bleubird, Fulton Lights

Minus the Bear - 53rd & Memphis (Fog remix) (Suicide Squeeze 2007)

Minus the Bear - Interpretaciones del Oso - Suicide Squeeze

I know what you're thinking already: "Christ, you guys were doing so well there for awhile. Minus the Bear? Seriously?" or maybe "A remix album? Why?" or even "I thought they fired this guy. Blogs fire people, right?" But hear me out on this one, because for me it's not that it's Minus the Bear; in fact, as Three Imaginary Girls quite accurately described, some of the songs "interpreted" here are so far gone from the source material that they are "almost unrecognizable to their original state." For diehard Minus the Bear fans, that'll be a pity to hear; for the rest of us, it will come with cautious relief. Stella ripped on the Battles and J. Clark remixes, which are too bad because those are some of the better ones on the album. The best song on here, subjectively speaking, is probably Fog's remix of "53rd & Memphis." It strides the line between making the source opaque and still managing to sound listenable. Fog's remixes are always really good (Cities, an incredibly boring band who released the thematically similar Variations last year, are another example of Fog turning tepid tunes into gold) and distinguishable because they crack with so much buzz it would make Honey Maid's farms jealous. Why did they do a remix album? That I can't answer, but I'll be honest: I'm glad they did. Without it, I might never have had a reason to listen to Minus the Bear in my life. Ever. Joke's on you, Fog... But the drinks are on me.













Bleubird - Hell Country (Endemik 2007)

Bleubird - RIP USA / Endemik

If you're sick of slackjawed rap and are looking for something a little sailor-mouthed from the underground, Montreal's Bleubird is right up your alley. This is an excellent album for a variety of reasons, the lyrics (thankfully) heading the list. One listen to "Hell Country" and you'll understand why: Flying through the song with an acerbic sense of humor and production from Alias, the man blows minds as he leans political and still manages to wrap up with the couplet, "Wake up, to break up alone, I save your messages because they keep me going." A bitter end to a beautiful song. But it's not all moping and moaning. In fact, this is a pretty poor representation of the album, which namedrops faster than James Murphy on a good night. Point is, this is the best hip-hop album of the year so far. It's not just Bleubird's work, though. Check the list of personnel gracing both the boards and the mic of this 18-song behemoth: Skyrider, Scott Da Ros, Subtitle, Sole, Nuccini!, Jim Wurster, David Pastorious... I mean, this is a fucking incredible line-up and that's not even a complete list, either. The production is all over the place in a good way, the artwork is coherent, the lyrics are all right there in the booklet so you don't have to guess what he just said about Fugazi or how the hell he managed to squeeze Tom Waits and Phil Collins in the same verse... All while making fun of the music industry, hip-hop and, as all great postmodern hipsters do, himself. Here's to losing your edge, my man.













Fulton Lights - Thank God for the Evening News (Catbird 2007)

Fulton Lights - Fulton Lights / Catbird

I made a vow I wouldn't mention Grizzly Bear in this review, but why not? Did anyone hate Yellow House last year? Fucking good record, right? Well Fulton Lights aka Andrew Spencer Goldman has, in a way, emulated his fellow Brooklynites by producing the kind of ambient folk album (probably the wrong terminology, sorry mom) that has staying power in a totally fluid industry. Spencer's got a side-project as all prolific people do in Maestro Echoplex, but Fulton Lights remains, for now, the primary gig. And with good reason: Thanks to some assistance from lads in the much-admired Dälek (Oktopus, who also remixed the opening track of Interpretaciones del Oso, and ex-Dälek DJ Still appear), the first half of Fulton Lights is a tad stronger than the second half, but it's all good; "Thank God for the Evening News" was, in fact, one of the songs co-produced by Oktopus. An extraordinarily pretty song with just the right sampling and just the right textural flow to keep you meandering down the lazy rivers that guide this Catbird release (Remember when they were just a blog?), "Thank God for the Evening News" is a portend of things to come for the remainder of the album. Nothing quite so heavy as "Colorado," but close enough: For Spencer, this should do just right. PS. Act now and you can fetch a limited-edition bonus remix disc. Oh yes, there's nothing we like more in this post than big-name remixers on big-time albums. But where art thou, Explosions in the Sky? Ah well, maybe next time.

Radio Show Playlist 2/07

6a:
1. The Velvet Underground - Heroin - Live 1969 with Lou Reed Vol. 2 (Mercury 1988)
2. The Twilight Sad - But When She Left, Gone Was the Glow - The Twilight Sad EP (FatCat 2006)
3. Deerhunter - Octet - Cryptograms (Kranky 2007)
4. Loren Dent - Love Song: Years of Iron Static - Empires & Milk (Contract Killers 2006)
5. Biosphere - Black Lamb & Grey Falcon - Cirque (Touch 2007, originally 2000)
6. The Race - Rose - Live on WLUW (2005)
7. The Kallikak Family - Shopping Mall Sun - Vineland Social Maturity Scale (On Purpose 2004)
8. James Yorkston - The Brussels Rambler - The Year of the Leopard (Domino 2006)
9. VietNam - Step on Inside - VietNam (Kemado 2007)
10. Woods - Hunover - At Rear House (Shrimper 2007)
11. Apostle of Hustle - Animal Fat - Folkloric Feel (Arts & Crafts 2004)

7a:
1. The Ladies - Trapped in the Hobbit - TRR100 Thankful (Temporary Residence 2007)
2. Call Me Lightning - We Be Dragons (live on WLUW) - Summer Sampler 2004 (Forge Again 2004)
3. Hella - Hand that Rocks the Cradle - There's No 666 in Outerspace (IPECAC 2007)
4. Parts & Labor - Sugar Kane - Confuse Your Idols: A Tribute to Sonic Youth (Narnack 2004)
5. The Eternals - High Anxiety - Rawar Style (Aesthetics 2004)
6. Kode9 & the Spaceape - Backward - Memories of the Future (Hyperdub 2006)
7. Sao Paulo Underground - Olhossss... - Sauna: Um, Dois, Tres (Aesthetics 2006)
8. him - Slow Slow Slow - Many in High Places are Not Well (Bubblecore 2003)
9. Bobby Hutcherson - Montara - Montara (Blue Note 1975)
10. Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Extended Hands of Giving (Alpha Pup 2007)
11. Daedelus - Scaling Snowdon - Of Snowdonia (Plug Research 2004)
12. Rikard Javerling - Ice Princess - Two Times Five Lullaby (Yesternow 2006)

New Music: James Yorkston, Rikard Jäverling, Gabriel Teodros

James Yorkston - The Brussels Rambler (Domino 2006)

James Yorkston – The Year of the Leopard / Domino

If there was ever a perfect time for listening to James Yorkston's third proper full-length, it's right now as I sit in my frostbitten apartment with the lights cut off and the blinds pulled way up to take advantage of the back-alley street light for ambiance (a setting that surely amplifies any pleasant mood). The sky has a just-folded-blanket-like smoothness to it and the moon is appropriately cuddled away inside to shelter even itself from this negative degree weather. Yeah it's Chicago, but it could very well be Yorkston's Edinburgh for that matter, because his warm and inviting new album features tones that are lulling no matter your location. Though at one time a snotty punk rocker, the Fife, Scotland native has fully embraced his Jansch and Drake-derived folk and it has been a beneficial career move. With Talk Talk's Paul Webb and Phill Brown in the producer and engineer chair respectively, Yorkston is able to develop the warm atmospheric setting Kieran Hebden laid down the previous album into a not wholly unlike but well progressed sound. Label-mate Adem is going to be the best contemporary parallel for not only vocal comparisons but innovative backing instrumentation as well. Though where the Hebden-compatriot opts for a driving lovesick pop tune in a romantic crisis, Yorkston sighs, accepts his fate and picks the somber mood through his trusting acoustic. Webb does an absolute gorgeous job with the instrumental accompaniment; the rich backdrop typically features a wonderfully resonant double bass and a clarinet that hums the way my furnace should. At other times, strings and mandolins take their turn weaving autumnal hues around a gentle organ patter or caringly brushed drums. Yorkston's vocals sound mournful yet accepting as he narrates with a clear and colorful (though restrained) singing voice and even on a couple occasions just starts talking in a style almost identical to Arab Strab, but in a much gentler, buzz-on-the-way-down manner. The Year of the Leopard is the kind of album you put on to just lay with someone; the kind of album that translates unspoken emotions of gratitude and warmth to the lady/fellow you are so generously sharing that blanket with on such a cold, placid night.





Rikard Jäverling - Ice Princess (Yesternow 2006)

Rikard Jäverling – Two Times Five Lullaby / Yesternow

I'm really not sure why I took so long to write about Rikard Jäverling debut album Two Times Five Lullaby. I quite liked the simplicity of it's minimal instrumentation and delicate melodies and even ripped the album entirely after my first listen (a rarity these days seeing as I have to delete something to store something), but since it lacked an attention-grabbing "radio friendly" sound, I kept putting it aside for bigger names till it eventually melted into the background of my apartment coincidently the exact same way the music does. Jäverling, a traveling Swedish musician, recently returned home after mucking around Ireland and Glasgow playing folk music for a living and recorded his first LP for the promising UK label Yesternow. The pastoral folk he honed on the British Isles is the focal point of his debut recordings and he accomplishes an inviting ambiance not by recording techniques but with fragile melodies of canonic acoustic, yawning harmonium and touches of other instrumentation like harmonica, banjo, theremin, hand and bottle percussion and organ care of Sagor & Swing's Eric Malmberg. Though anchored in Sweden's genre-jumping belief, including slight influences from traditional Nordic folk, syrupy-sweet pop and even skeletal prog, Jäverling seems to really utilize the urban folk sounds of major though humble cities like Chicago or Edinburgh. Two Times Five Lullaby is an album of sighing, well-alright-then melodies and deceptively simple song structures that translates into the sort of soul-baring honesty recognizable no matter your geographical location.





Gabriel Teodros - Sexcapism (Mass Line 2007)

Gabriel Teodros – No Label EP / Mass Line

I won’t front, I’m hesitating on the Northwest rap scene. It’s not that I’m disliking much of what I hear from the burgeoning hip-hop community, but nothing is really blowing my mind (but truthfully, my recent ear sighing has not been directed toward any particular rap scene, but just the genre in general... this of course is just a personal opinion, but lately I’ve only been able to get excited about rap that’s at least a decade old or by a Wu-Tang alumni... I’m assuming that I’ve just not been pointed in the right direction as of late). The recent movement in Seattle and Portland seems to stem from the Bay Area with its conscious-minded lyrics and smooth funk samples. The biggest difference is in the slowing of tempo and the de-amplifying of vocal emotion… perhaps a little too much time spent at Hempfest (of which I wouldn’t mind attending myself). The most recent of these labels causing a stir is Seattle’s Mass Line (Common Market, Blue Scholars) who is about to unleash their third act, Gabriel Teodros. The Ethiopian-born journeyman fits the Northwest description to a tee: mid-tempo almost-flat flow, socially-conscious rhymes, and simple, head-nodding beats taking cues from chilled-out funk and 70s soul. My peek at his new full-length, Lovework, comes care of the No Label EP featuring three album cuts and an instrumental of the title track. I question putting ‘No Label’ up front as the single since it’s the weakest song of the trio with its generic female vocal loop and uninspired lyrics that describe the inability to characterize the current rap scene. ‘East Africa’ seems more appropriate to the Teodros philosophy; shout out’s to his cultural heritage, political observations and the obvious need for social change and global unity. Again, nothing special, but I can imagine that it’s a bit more heartfelt live than in the recorded rendition. Saving the best for last, ‘Sexcapism,’ which is a bit of a love/lost song, features a much tighter flow and more interesting lyrics over a bubbling organ sample and sleigh bell percussion. This EP certainly shows promise, but for me it’s not quite there. Teodros needs to carve out his own sound within the Northwest market and the scene will be that much better for it.

New Music: Call Me Lightning, Aereogramme, Booji Boy High

Call Me Lightning - Billion Eyes (Frenchkiss 2007)

Call Me Lightning - Soft Skeletons / Frenchkiss

After a week listening to minimalist house, wooded noise walks and icy folk wonderlands, I thought I'd warm myself up with some more traditional "rockist" stuff coming out of the periphery of the pop camp. Call Me Lightning are first up and, after apologizing to The Detachment Kit for calling them Frenchkissers (They self-released +), I thought I'd redeem myself a bit by calling lightning out for what it is: Soft Skeletons is their second full-length out on the New York label and a seething follow-up to their 2004 debut on Revelation, The Trouble We're In. Not exactly Soft Pyramids, then... In three years, the vivacious Milwaukee trio has been out on tour with a host of folks and, road-tested and mother-approved, will be back out in a venue near you soon with the album in tow February 20th. "Billion Eyes" is the second song off the album, its shouted chorus sounding for a split second like The Von Bondies (C'mon, c'mon, it's just that one part) but everything else is anything but. The ear-splitting guitars and easily hummed melodies are what the band plays to on this one, and with boundless enthusiasm for their music, no end seems in sight. Maybe this second strike will be the one that catches fire. First step: Album art. I look like such an amateur right now.

















Aereogramme - The Running Man (Sonic Unyon 2007)

Aereogramme - My Heart Has a Wish That You Would Not Go / Sonic Unyon

Aereogramme is going to be a harder sell if you've already read the Pitchfork review and tried to be objective about the complementing (and complimenting) Drowned in Sound review. These particular Scots are definitely more a band for the heart than for the head; in past years they have gone from aggro-metal to post-rock lesser Mogwais to an improved Hope of the States (Coldplay?), but that's kind of Aereogramme's charm: They never stay in one pigeonhole for too long. For example, a lot of kids everywhere were thrilled about their Seclusion mini-album/EP. But Americans have by and large rejected My Heart Has a Wish That You Would Not Go in the same way they've rejected Bloc Party's new album: Either you've outgrown it or, that failing, you dismiss it as being "too British" because your heart ain't in the same place. If you want anything from Blighty, you want it shallow and 4/4 (Calling all Klaxons: Your rave has arrived), you want it Radiohead, or you want nothing to do with it.

I can't say I blame you, but Aereogramme are, I think, an oft-overlooked exception. Here's the problem: Mogwai is sort of like post-rock for the mature adult. But would you let your kid delve head-first into Happy Songs for Happy People or that Fukugawa track from Mr. Beast and call your parenting job anything more than half-assed? So Aereogramme become the logical stepping stone, an Explosions in the Sky for people who need vocals and not just music to move them to tears and football. They're a bit amateurish, a bit melodramatic, a bit forced at times (I mean, the fucking title guys, come on), they want "this moment" to last just long enough for the John Hughes-approved credits to start rolling over that crystal-clear moonrise... But when they're on, when all sixteen candles are glowing and Jake Ryan is leaning in for that kiss just so... Aereogramme really can shine in a way that would have all of Odessa, Texas jealous they didn't know the Chemikal Underground crowd better. You've already heard about the stirring opener "Conscious Life for Coma Boy" (and, for better or worse, it most certainly is stirring); now try "The Running Man" on for size and and tell me Richard Dawson isn't the only good memory you'll come away with after hearing that phrase again.

















Booji Boy High - Twist Myself Again (DFA 2007)

Booji Boy High - Doubleshaw 7" - DFA

And then there was another kind of high. Booji ("boogie") Boy High, to be exact. I left this one for last because it's probably the least pressing for me personally; most of that great big mess of a web we call the blogosphere has already latched on to the indomitable DFA's latest release, a 7" from Georgios Panayiotou and Mother Markzbow you already know from Hot Chip... Well, those not illegally downloading Sound of Silver already. Anyhow, Booji Boy High sounds a lot like Hot Chip at the end of the day; both "Doubleshaw" and the song presented here, "Twist Myself Again," are like Hot Chip if they'd hung around Miguel Manuel de Pedro more. Glitch, twitch, twist, again: Perhaps this comes from added influence courtesy Devo, though Mark Mothersbaugh probably never would've started a song with "I'm so sad," so there's The Warning. Ba dum tish. If you just can't settle for the b-side, try both songs in lower quality on the DFA's MySpace page. Leave your disappointment at the door and head on in: You wish your 'High was this good in every twist of that phrase, too. How good? In the time it took you to read that, three more blog posts on Booji were banged out faster than the Brat Pack at full tilt in 1986. Pass the coke, Mr. Hughes. I'm struggling to keep up with recycled goodness.

Used-Bin Bargains: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

The current Chicago weather is -1. Not bad considering it's raised 5 degrees since I woke up, though it would be nice if my steam heat would turn on. I guess free heat is what it is.

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!! (sigh)



Rahsaan Roland Kirk - From Bechet, Byas and Fats - Rip, Rig and Panic (Limelight 1965)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Stompin' Grounds - Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith (Verve 1967)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Rip, Rig and Panic/Now Please Don’t Your Cry, Beautiful Edith / Polygram

Last November I attended this meet-and-greet at the Sonotheque for a job I was perusing; alas music directing an independent radio station is not the most financially stable situation. I’m a big fan of this Chicago nightspot because basically it’s a bar built inside a sound system and they frequently feature eclectic DJs and worldly acts. But maybe my favorite characteristic is the television they have mounted above the bar, which plays random old films from god knows where and the soundless visuals seem to intoxicate me more than their overpriced alcohol. On this particular night, while I was supposed to be schmoozing, they were playing this film of Rahsaan Roland Kirk absolutely killing it in black and white and though I couldn’t hear the music that actually accompanied the concert, just watching the jazz man play his barrage of handmade instruments as well as piano and drums was mesmerizing. Well it’s been three months and I have yet to hear about the job (or the South African girl I was hitting on that night as well, sigh), but the evening wasn’t wasted because it prompted my digging into the great world of Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

The blind multi-instrumentalist was born during the mid-30s in Columbus, OH and was trained on the bugle, trumpet, clarinet, C-melody and tenor sax by 15. His late teenage years were spent playing R&B professionally as he began to discover unordinary instruments like the manzello, a modified version of the saxello (a straight B-flat soprano), and the stritch, a modified straight E-flat alto, as well as tweak his own horns so he could play them simultaneously. Throughout his career he’d continue this practice of creating instruments introducing the trumpophone, which used a soprano sax mouthpiece on a trumpet, and the slidesophone, a miniature trombone again with a sax mouthpiece, as well as incorporating piccolo, harmonica, siren whistles, tape manipulation, electronics and other instruments not typically associated with jazz. The early 60s saw Kirk in Chicago as he began to make a name for himself as a solo musician, not to mention touring Europe with Mingus in the interim. In the early 70s he became an activist for supporting jazz and African-American artists, but sadly, he suffered a paralyzing stroke in '75. Though he lost movement on one complete side of his body, he kept playing one-handed with his constantly modified instruments. Kirk passed away in 1977, but left a lasting mark on the jazz world with his exciting showmanship, as an unparalleled multi-talented musician and with his genre-infusing eccentrics that still influence artists today.

Much to our benefit, many of Kirk’s records can be picked up as double albums on CD, like this 1990 Polygram release featuring 1965’s Rip, Rig and Panic (Limelight) and 1967’s Now Please Don’t You Cry, Beautiful Edith (Verve). Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, Rip, Rig and Panic features not only a pre-Rahsaan Roland Kirk taking his post-bop sound through many different phases of jazz, but also sports absolutely amazing accompaniment. Rounding out the quartet was long-time Coletrane drummer Elvin Jones, incredibly versatile pianist Jaki Byard and Creative Construction Company bassist Richard Davis. I think the most appropriate description for this album would be accessible avant-garde jazz. While certainly spending much time within the reigns of hard and post-bop, Kirk’s refusal to stick with one sound (or instrument) finds the music careening off into numerous directions including traditional New Orleans jazz, modal music, free improvisation and even found sound as with glass shattering to represent a change in theme or Edgard Varèse-inspired tape manipulation. But I believe that the fact it never reaches an inaccessible noise level would appeal to listeners trying to ease themselves into the world of avant-garde jazz.

“Rip means Rip Van Winkle [or Rest in Peace?]. It’s the way people, even musicians, are. They’re asleep. Rig means like rigor mortis. That’s where a lot of people’s minds are. When they hear me doing things they didn’t think I could do they panic in their minds. They all say, 'Well, I didn’t know this kind of thing could happen.' Actually, I was doing some things like this when I was in Ohio, but I lost work because people didn’t want to hear this kind of thing.”

Though recorded two years later, Now Please Don’t Cry, Beautiful Edith (Kirk’s wife), is much more accessible in what I am assuming was an attempt to reach a wider audience. It’s much more based around grooves and even features a rendition of “Alfie,” a pop tune originally penned but Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Joining Kirk in the studio this time was renown soul-jazz session drummer Grady Tate, future fusion keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith and long-time Sun Ra associate Roland/Ronnie Boykins on bass. He couldn’t have had a better band in place for the feel of this album that was simultaneously soulful, bluesy and warm. It makes an intriguing juxtaposition to Rip, Rig and Panic though hardly generic; Kirk’s inventiveness as a player just cannot be contained for long no matter the theme. For example, the aforementioned “Alfie” starts off pretty mundane with it’s light piano accompaniment and smooth jazz sax, but the skittering drums pick up and Kirk wails in an seemingly multi-tracked way as they find a loose groove to finish the three-minute song. While I will admit that Please Don’t Cry is not nearly as awe-inspiring as Rip, it’s an important exposure to the many dimensions of Kirk. This double-album is a great introduction to the unpredictable and multi-dimensional world of Rahsaan Roland Kirk and worth every penny you spend on it.