Winter

Subtle – Winter (2002) self-released

1. 12/21/02 12:00-12:37am

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The third installment of the Four Seasons. Winter is the one outlier. The entire EP is a single improvised session. The experience is extremely desolate, aligning it much closer to it's namesake than the other EPs. This also makes it the most challenging of the seasons. Aside from being completely free-form, Subtle toys with preconceptions of live improvisation, using samples & field recordings. Percussive elements are impossible to identify, including whether they're sampled or not.

The one constant is Alexander Kort's cello. It's the glue that binds the track together. The band remains highly restrained, slowly building up a dialogue. The hesitation doesn't lift up until the second half of the recording. The keyboards are terribly low in the mix, but if you turn up the volume you uncover a wealth of electronics, adding much more to the improvisation. From here on out the days only get longer.

Destructo Swarmbots

Destructo Swarmbots – Clear Light (2007) on Public Guilt

1. Banta
2. Phases
3. Fireberry
4. Sipping On The Fog

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This is massive. Celestial. The closest any human being can come to replicating NASA’s Voyager Recordings. Destructo Swarmbots is the project of Mike Mare. Sometimes there’s another guy involved, it’s difficult to say really, since Destructo Swarmbots is painfully inept at disseminating information via the internet.

Mike Mare is currently in dälek. dälek’s Alap Momin mixed Clear Light, while James Plotkin mastered it. Mare recently collaborated with Isis guitarist Mike Gallagher to create a gem of an album, aptly named, Amigos de la Guitarra. You’d think with such high profile associates, more people would be aware of Destructo Swarmbots and his guitar wielding ways.

Alter Egos

3-2-1 Activate!/Tub Ring - Alter Egos (2007) self-released

1. 3-2-1 Activate! - Eraser
2. 3-2-1 Activate! - Now It's Got a Hold of Me
3. Tub Ring - This Is The Sound
4. Tub Ring - Touch

Download

Here's a picture of 3-2-1 Activate!:


now here's a picture of Tub Ring:


Let me explain: Tub Ring fell apart in 2006. At the time the band was without a drummer, then their guitarist & bassist left, leaving the core duo Kevin Gibson & Rob Kleiner. They managed to replace the missing members, but used this high turnover to explore a different musical side.

3-2-1 Activate! (god what a horrendous name) is a band that explores the poppier, more conventional tastes of Kleiner & Gibson. The "same group of people being two different bands" is not anything new, but it's a concept that isn't very popular, mainly because it's confusing as all get out, regardless of how well you try to explain it.

Things do get pretty confusing however, because the band really didn't know what to do with their new persona. During all this regrouping & creating a new band, Tub Ring was writing and recording a new album, The Great Filter. Instead of using 3-2-1 as a vehicle for their poppier output, they just incorporated the more traditional song structures and catchy hooks into The Great Filter. The result are 3-2-1 songs that show up on the Tub Ring album. There's even an iTunes single by Tub Ring, that's actually a 3-2-1 song. Instead of clearly diving the two bands, they just mashed them together.

This split CDr, which was handed out at the CD release show for The Great Filter, only adds to the confusion. As a split, it clearly delineates between the two bands, but you'd never guess that from listening to it. "Eraser" conveys what 3-2-1 was going for. It's straightforward. Too much so, it's pretty bland, and verges on sounding contrived. "Now It's Got a Hold of Me" sounds like Tub Ring however, nothing very "pop song" about it. The Tub Ring songs are fantastic, they're infinitely more energetic and dynamic than anything on The Great Filter. The split is worth it for "Touch" alone (T.S. Elliot references never hurt either). As a whole, the split doesn't sound like two different bands. It sounds like Tub Ring for the most part.

I'm not forgetting any cover art, there isn't any. It simply comes in a paper sleeve. Fans were pretty upset with The Great Filter, since the 3-2-1 influence really detracted from what makes Tub Ring so great. This actually upset the band, and now they have something to prove, which they intend to do with their next album, which they just finished recording.

Heroin + Dub

De Facto - Légende du Scorpion à Quatre Queues (2001) on Modern City Records

1. Legend of the Four-Tailed Scorpion
2. Mattilious Creed
3. AMkHz
4. Hoxadrine (Live)
5. Muerte Inoxia
6. Vesica Pisces (Live)
7. Cordova
8. 120E7 (Original Version)
9. Exit Template

Download

Not that I've ever done smack, but this album tastes like heroin. It's trippy. Not in a psychedelic sense, but in a spacey, detached, opiate sense. De Facto ceased to exist when band leader Jeremy Michael Ward died of a heroin overdose in 2003. They started, however, as a side project of At The Drive-in, with most of their output taking place in 2001, as At The Drive-in was self-destructing (i.e., more hard drugs).

This album brings the dub, and heavy. This is one of a few of the albums that I own, out of hundreds, that requires turning the bass down. And of those few albums, this is the one I have to turn the bass down the most. I've never heard an Ampeg ever sound this thick & heavy. The entire album was recorded live to cassette, so the fidelity can only be best described as having "tape grain." While it may not be high in production values, it's perfectly fitting for this dub. The melodicas, (which duel at times) with their drugged, high pitched warbling, are captured beautifully, with no distortion or clipping. As I've mentioned the bass is a heavyweight, not to be messed with. If you can find Legend of the Four-Tailed Scorpion on vinyl, the bass is hefty enough to compromise foundations.

De Facto recorded everything live, so the two live tracks from a 2001 tour of Europe sound no different than any of the others. Actually that's a bit of a lie, they're the strongest tracks on the album. That's only due however, to the energy of their performance. Ikey Owens' keyboards on "Hoxadrine" is probably the highlight of the album, as is Jeremy Michael Ward's sound manipulation two thirds of the way through "Vesica Pisces."

If anything needs to be reissued as a boxset, it's the De Facto discography. Each release was issued by a different label, most of which have long since vanished. I'd say "all of which," except I'm unsure about the France-based Modern City Records. They still have a website up, but it hasn't been updated for over two years.

A live version of "Cordova" can be found on the sister album, Megaton Shotblast. Super high quality studio recordings of "Vesica Pisces" & "120E7" are on the single, 456132015.

Flying Low

Carla Kihlstedt and Shahzad Ismaily - Flying Low (2004) self-released

1. Einsamall
2. Shutters
3. Long Walk Home
4. Dishes in a Red Dress
5. Farrage
6. Apology Knot
7. Flying Low
8. Crone
9. Stitch
10. Carriage
11. Muir Waltz
12. Long Walk Home, II
13. From Here, It Is Quiet
14. Dolmen
15. Dish in a Red Dress, II
16. Flock
17. Andast

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Carla Kihlstedt and Shahzad Ismaily, when filled out with Marika Hughes, make up the delightful 2 Foot Yard. This album however, sounds nothing like that band. If anything it most resembles Kihlstedt’s Tin Hat Trio (now just simply Tin Hat,) but that’s still quite a stretch. Kihlstedt is probably best known for her role in the art rock performance group Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, as their resident violinist. Shahzad Ismaily is most active with the conspiracy loving Secret Chiefs 3. What these two multi-instrumentalists have recorded is one mixed bag:

Flying Low was written for Jo Kreiter and Flyaway Productions’ 2001 premiere of “Maybe Grief is a Good Bird Flying Low”— a contemporary dance piece about the ways in which women deal with grief.

In other words, Flying Low is the soundtrack to a modern dance piece. The result isn’t quite cinematic, that’s much too grandiose a term, but it’s definitely visual. The music has enough space incorporated within it to let motion & movement breathe, to augment it if you will. Since the music was written to aid a visual element, it doesn’t easily leave an impression. So it’s easy to dismiss Flying Low as having very little depth to it, which is a huge mistake. The album has plenty of ambient moments, and simplistic instrumentation, but giving it your undivided attention it will expose a rich complexity in timbre and a wide array in exotic tones. Not only are both musicians multi-instrumentalists, but the instruments they use are one of a kind. I’m not kidding. Kihlstedt uses a homemade “trumpet violin,” which she uses in many of her projects, Tin Hat & SGM included. A violin is married with the horn of a trumpet, which sounds like the ghost of a violin emanating from a giant gramophone. Other, less unique instruments utilized are Chinese banjo (which sounds exactly like you’d think), zither, and bass harmonica (think harmonica, but larger than a brick). Flying Low has plenty of ambient moments, soundscapes, and at times builds up to resemble French jazz. Yet it never remains on any element long enough to be defined by it. There is practically never a break, as it flows from one track to the next, enforcing the album’s fluidity, and reminding you that it is in fact a soundtrack.

The entire recording was produced and engineered by SGM member, and all around audio guru, Dan Rathbun, at his Polymorph Recording Studio. To say the production (both in terms of audio & packaging) is “top notch,” would be an understatement. The album comes in a hand folded, mucus color card stock, with graphics silk screened by Kilhstedt herself. The ink is a glittery magenta, which is infinitely more elegant than it sounds. Included with the album is an actual bird feather. When I purchased this many years ago, it was described as “very limited” in quantity. While the packaging is strictly DIY, the CDs themselves are legitimately printed, so I’d guess the album is limited to a couple or few hundred copies.

NASA Voyager recordings (UPDATE)

Eight months ago I posted this mighty fine gem. Five half-hour tracks. It's the only thing I've posted on this blog so far that I myself haven't ripped & uploaded. I wasn't happy with the fact that the first three volumes were 320 kbps while the last two were only 128 kbps. That's why I stick to my own rips, as a way of quality control.

While the quality of those last two volumes wasn't ideal, I couldn't not share the links, as they were some of the most hauntingly beautiful sounds I've ever heard. Luckily I just stumbled across better links, these here are all .flac

Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 1
Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 2
Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 3
Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 4
Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 5

MAXIMUM VOLUME YEILDS MAXIMUM RESULTS

Sunn O))) - Oracle (2007) on Southern Lord

i/1. Belürol Pusztít
i/2. Orakulum
ii/1. HeliO)))sophist

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zwwmx0tyiz5

Don't let the tracklisting fool you. This beast is two discs and clocks in at a hair over 80 minutes. This is probably my favorite Sunn O))) release, recorded around the same time they collaborated with Boris. (Atsuo handles drum duties on the first disc.) The first track originally appeared on some compilation of songs featuring Buddha Machines, the second track was written for an art instillation performance, and the final track, the second disc, is an "audial collage" of live performances from Europe from July 2005.

"Belürol Pusztít" is, hands down, my most favorite Sunn O))) track ever. Not only does it employ a Buddha Machine, but it also features Joe Preston on jackhammer. As ridiculous as that sounds, the jackhammer works phenomenally. Attila Csihar does his signature vocals on each track, but subtly stands out on the epic "HeliO)))sophist," where he really flexes his vocal range, sounding even more inhuman than he does on disc one. He subsides midway through the collage, where the guitars duel in a manner reminiscent of the GrimmRobe Demos, then returns to close out the disc.

This version of Oracle is limited to 2000 copies. There is a 12" version of 7777 copies that omits "HeliO)))sophist." The vinyl version, when purchased directly from Southern Lord, comes with a "misprinted" copy of the CD, which is identical to this version, except it lacks the second disc. ("HeliO)))sophist" is listed on the tracklisting, hence the misprint.) I'm unsure of how many copies of the single CD version there are. I'd fully endorse the vinyl version, but it's a massive shame that "HeliO)))sophist" is so exclusive. As a collage, it really is a step above your typical live Sunn O))) recording. & heads up, the mp3 tags might be a tad mixed up in terms of disc numbers.

Pardon the shlock

I've had over 11,000 visitors in less than a month. So I've added some Feedjit widgets to help me get to the bottom of this.

Subtle – Autumn (2002) self-released

1. Coldcoals Camera Action
2. Arsenic Chic
3. Bluerose Charade
4. 6 Small Men In A Giant Robot
5. Earthsick

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?y4ndeu5mczn

Today marks the autumnal equinox, so I’ll post the second of the Four Seasons. What I love so much about this project is that each EP is solid, and together they make an even greater body of work. Autumn is pretty similar to Summer, rather ambient, without much song structure.

The production is extremely fitting. The band recorded everything themselves, using laptops, in kitchens & on rooftops. But you’d never know, it doesn’t suffer from weak production values that are integral of lo-fi music. They somehow use their limits to their strength, resulting in something that’s raw. Not in a “rough around the edges” sense, but something that’s unadulterated and feels genuinely improvised.

“Earthsick” is not only the closer, but the word itself is the mantra that opens the EP and is hidden throughout the other seasons. The lyrical content, straddling between stream of conscious & dreamt nonsense, manages to invoke some nebulous longing, or maybe some type of collective regret. As difficult as it is to identify, you are well aware it originates from your dreams, or maybe your imagination, or old photographs you’ve never actually seen. Regardless, it’s quite familiar, which makes it much easier to venture off & explore the unknown.

Free Moral Agents

Free Moral Agents – Lay Down 12” (2003) on Pete Records

A1. Lay Down
A2. Lay Down (Instrumental)
B1. What I Really Think
B2. The Mortgage Banker vs. The Savage (feat. Subtitle)

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2mjdylz2amm

Free Moral Agents started out as the solo project of Isaiah Ikey Owens. This man single handedly played keyboards for most of the SoCal ska scene of the mid to late 90s. Sublime, Reel Big Fish, Long Beach Dub Allstars, The Aquabats, The Hippos, Rx Bandits, the list doesn’t stop. He was recruited to join De Facto, which eventually evolved into the Mars Volta. Nowadays he’s popping up on albums by Saul Williams, El-P, Busdriver, and even Mastodon (Blood Mountain, to be exact).

This 12” is FMA’s first release, and happens to be their most orthodox, in hip hop terms. Owens produces all of the music, with the exception of the last cut featuring Subtitle, DJ Nobody is responsible for the drum programming. The title track never stood out to me in any way, not that it’s bad, it’s just not exceptional. The B side slays however. The MC is some fellow who simply goes by the name J, and his rhymes verge on slam poetry. Pretty thought provoking stuff.

The warping at the end of Subtitle’s guest spot is a taste of FMA’s full length that came out a year later. It takes a giant leap away from hip hop, and just trips absolute balls. Everybody’s Favorite Weapon is on my list of favorite albums ever. In the five years since it’s release I’ve yet to find anything that comes remotely close in the level of surrealism & melody. J left the group in 2006, and in the wake of his departure FMA has become a full fledged band. They’ve also seemed pretty incompetent at releasing their follow up album. The Honey in the Carcass of the Lion was originally slated to be released in the fall of ’07, and the most recent news on its status is a release for spring of ’09 (. . . ). This delay has allowed Earth to beat FMA to the punch, with their 2008 album, The Bees Made Honey In the Lion’s Skull.

It’s worth noting that the group Look Daggers is current, band-era FMA with Visionaries member 2Mex on MC duties. Naturally I’d be all over that, but my feelings about 2Mex are pretty mixed.

And another thing I need to point out, even though I’ve already written too much for this 12”. The first song on the B side is called “The Way I Really Feel” on the outer jacket, but is listed as “What I Really Think” on the record itself. I don’t know which title is correct, even after digging through the ASCAP database. And Pete Records is long since dead, a real shame since they had a pretty interesting roster.

13 & God

13 & God - Live in Japan (2008) on Art Union Recordings

1. Low Heaven
2. Men of Station
3. Tin Strong
4. Soft Atlas
5. Perfect Speed
6. Ghostwork
7. If
8. Superman on Ice
9. Out in the Open

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?oqmjmir5qm3

I’m usually not one for live albums. All the bleed from the drum and vocal mics make things sound pretty crummy, and the performances are often inferior to their respective studio takes. Things are a bit different with 13 & God. Collaborative albums are often created with little intent to reproduce live, so it’s pretty interesting to hear 13 & God pull it off. A lot is sampled, like strings or Yoni Wolf, but Jel’s MPCing has far more “umph” live than it does on record. Doseone is impeccable, more or less making the album. To be blunt, Markus Archer’s vocals are pretty bad, which is saying a lot considering they’re already an “acquired taste,” and his guitar playing isn’t much better. Dose however picks up the slack & then some, letting loose on the set closer “Superman on Ice.” The encore, “Out in the Open,” is a Themselves song that the Notwist remixed for Themselves’ remix album. It’s surprisingly close to the actual remix, which is even more surprisingly far better than the original song.

The recording is from a performance at Unit, in Tokyo, October 5th 2005. Subtle band mate Jordan Dalrymple fills in for Dax Pierson. The album is limited to 1000 copies, with 100 available via anticon. It comes enhanced with bonus videos from a festival performance in Germany. One of the songs is the unreleased “Sure as Dept. Dust Collectors” which I really hope will be on the next 13 & God album, which should see the light of day in 2010.

QOTSA

Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age (1998) on Loosegroove Records

1. Regular John
2. Avon
3. If Only
4. Walkin' on the Sidewalks
5. You Would Know
6. How to Handle a Rope
7. Mexicola
8. Hispanic Impressions
9. You Can't Quit Me Baby
10. Give the Mule What He Wants
11. I Was a Teenage Hand Model

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?3hh05kvctmj

This is where it all started. Not really, or at all actually, but this can be seen as a concrete point where things start to become cohesive. This is the band at it's "amp worshiping" finest. Then again this album isn't really a band, but Josh Homme's solo project. Alfredo Hernández handles drums while Homme handles everything else.

Riffage. Crunchy riffage. Homme referred to it at the time as "robot rock." QOTSA is the foremost band I turn to when I want guitar driven rock. The songwriting isn't very strong as it is on subsequent albums, but the guitar tones here are so blissfully raw.

The album will be remastered and reissued on Ipecac in late fall. Until then, enjoy it in it's original glory.

It's SUMMER

Subtle - Summer (2002) self-released

1. Flying Horse Plans
2. 5second Segment
3. Eneby Kurs
4. Been Shelled
5. Boxgod
6. The Teeth Behind the Wheel

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?qmthurty5dn

Today marks the start of summer, which also marks the start of Subtle. Summer is their inaugural EP and the first of their “Four Seasons” project. As a whole, the “Four Seasons” EPs are pretty phenomenal, but for the simplicity’s sake, have been compiled into a single CD, Earthsick. The only problem with the single CD compilation is that it the more experimental tracks are left off.

Hearing each season EP in it’s own context adds way more depth to the series. Summer might actually be my favorite, it’s difficult to tell. Of the four, Summer is the most free formed. There is very little in the way of song structure on this EP, it only peeks in on “Eneby Kurs,” and disappears before you’ve even noticed it. “Flying Horse Plans” may be one of the boldest entrances by a band ever. A forceful declaration of intent, almost warning the listener of the sounds to come. And my god, the kick drum. It has the physical presence that you only hear live, making you wonder why recorded drums never sound that dynamic.

I’ve always been a fan of bands’ first albums. There is a sense of exploration and self discovery that subsequent release just don’t have. With the Four Seasons, Subtle deliberately set out to find themselves (as a band) in the recording of these songs. It's an amazing thing to get lost in.

Pelican

Pelican - Ephemeral (2009) on Migration Media

1. Embedding the Moss
2. Ephemeral
3. Geometry of Murder (feat. Dylan Carlson)

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jz3y3jazqag

I picked this up last night after seeing Pelican kill it live. I've never been that into the band, as great as they are, their recordings come off as a bit stale. They're infinitely easier to get into when they're five feet in front of you and shredding faces off. That said, this EP is pretty strong. The last song is an Earth cover, or maybe it's a song Earth never recorded? Dylan Carlson just gave them the song? The CD simply says "originally written by Earth," and I'm not familiar with the song being on any Earth release, so who knows... Carlson's style is rather noticeable, making it the finest song the EP has to offer

Ephemeral is Pelican's debut on Southern Lord, which is releasing the EP exclusively on 180g vinyl. CDs are limited to 1000 copies, which are being sold on tour. Turns out there is also a 50 copy run with alternate artwork which was sold on a recent stint in Japan. The packaging is rather stunning. It's a single piece of sturdy black flatstock, screenprinted with black and bluish-white ink, that ingenuously folds to house the CD. Delicious Design League is responsible for the layout & printing, which they deserve mad props for. They also have some swank posters worth checking out too.

Earth - Live Europe 2006

Earth - Live Europe 2006 (2007) on Southern Lord

1. Ouroboros is Broken (Paris)
2. Coda Maestoso in E (Flat) Minor (Paris)
3. The Felon Wind (Paris)
4. Land of Some Other Order (Vienna)
5. Plague of Angels (Amsterdam)
6. Raiford/The Felon Wind (Vienna)

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ndzmwtrwkzz

The new Sunn O))) album came out recently, and instead of being enamored by it, I've been listening to all the other Sunn O))) albums I have, as well as all the Earth albums I own.

As the name suggests, Live Europe 2006 is from a 2006 tour of Europe where Earth opened for Sunn O))), and was subsequently sold as a tour only CD during their 2007 tour of Europe. Remaining copies were sold via Southern Lord mailorder. I have no idea how many copies of this were pressed, but it was a limited shindig. Earth more or less has a limited live release to correspond with each studio release, and as the cover suggests, this corresponds with Hibernaculum. Since Hibernaculum is only an EP, this has some Hex songs on it.

I honestly cant explain the appeal of live Earth releases, as they don't have the gorgeous production qualities of their studio albums. In the live environment the guitars don't sound anywhere near as lush, and some wrong notes are played. I guess it's the pacing that makes it so special. If anything they play slower live, and you get that much more mesmerized by it. I love the structuring of this album, as each song is lengthier than the last, really drawing you in. Band member Steve Moore really shines, I swear he's the key to the success that this lineup of Earth has had. His trombone & wurlitzer playing is the highlight of each song. I can guarantee you I've never dug a trombone this much in my life before.

I will never get sick of Earth. In fact, I feel like this album is too short at an hour long, where's "Miami Morning Coming Down"?

Jaga Jazzist - The Stix

Jaga Jazzist - The Stix (2002) on Warner Music Norway/Smalltown Supersound

1. Kitty Wú
2. Day
3. Another Day
4. Reminders
5. Suomi Finland
6. Toxic Dart
7. I Could Have Killed Him In The Sauna
8. Aerial Bright Dark Round
9. Doppelganger
10. The Stix

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?y2yroyyuy2j

If there's one thing I've learned in recent years, it's that Norway has one hell of a music scene. These guys are considered part of the "Scandinavian nu-jazz revival" or something, I could care less, they just kill it.

The best thing about Jaga Jazzist, as well as all Norwegian music I've been able to get my hands on, is its complete openness. The willingness to use anything as long as it appropriately adds to the music. So while Jaga Jazzist is rooted in jazz, anything is fair game. The Stix happens to be their most "electronic" sounding album, with a lot of the drumming being programmed. Sometimes they even branch into glitch and IDM territory. With 10 people in the band, all of which are multi-instrumentalists, the sound is pretty rich. I'm not going to ramble on, as the music does best by speaking for itself.

It's worth noting that this is the Norwegian version, which has a pretty different track ordering and alternate cover art to the international version released on Smalltown Supersound/Ninja Tune a year later.

Idiot Flesh - Fancy

Idiot Flesh - Fancy (1997) on Vaccination Records

1. Dead Like Us
2. Idiot Song
3. Teen Devil Worshipper
4. Chicken Little
5. Twitch
6. Drowning
7. Motherfucker
8. Bach Is Dead
9. Diggity Cow And The Dandy Mr. Clyde
10. The Straw
11. Cheesus (Dance Mix)
12. People In Your Neighborhood
13. Dead Like Us (Reprise)

http://www.mediafire.com/?yznwkqwkmjz

For some peculiar reason, any band that happens to be amazing & also have strong avant-garde tendencies just so happens to be from the San Fransisco/Oakland area. Maybe it's something in the water, or they've all spent too much time at Barrington Hall. All that matters it that this album is pretty epic, as in, "easily makes desert island 10 list" epic.

Idiot Flesh, as rumors have it, broke up in 1998 when they were offered their first record deal. That would be the sort of news that you cry yourself to sleep over, except members Nils Frykdahl & Dan Rathbun went on to form Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Everything about Idiot Flesh is "outside the box." They had no actual frontman, everyone but the drummer sang. They were also all multi-instrumentalists, so the aural palette is much wider than your average album.

The absurdity of the songs is fantastic. "Teen Devil Worshipper" was inspired by an episode of Geraldo Rivera. "Chicken Little" differs from the children's tale in that the sky does actually fall at the end. There's a Residents cover and a Sesame Street cover (more of a skit really). Musically, the album ends with "The Straw" which puts the entirety of T.S. Elliot's "The Hollow Men" to music.

It's such a shame that this album is not only so difficult to come by, but that when it does surface on eBay, there's no way in hell it sells for less than $70. Supposedly the End Records (the current home to Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) has plans to reissue this gem, but is having hang ups on how to reproduce the intricate cardboard folding jacket the CD comes in.

Antipop

So I listened to Primus' Antipop for the third time ever today, and I remembered why I pretty much never listen to it. It's atrocious. It doesn't even sound like Primus. I mean no wonder why the band went on hiatus after this album. It's not the heavy influence of outsiders & their production, it's not that simple. Hell, the song produced by Fred Durst is actually one of the best songs on the album, the nu-metal aggression keeps it afloat. Everything that makes Primus "Primus" is completely gone. Les Claypool's bass playing doesn't drive any of the songs, or stick out in that cartoony, Claypool angular fashion. It's just gratuitous, "hey look at these chops" slap bass. Larry LaLonde no longer has funky, staccato bass to work off of, and just riffs along with Tom Morello & James Hetfield. That dynamic that defines Primus is nowhere to be found. Not to mention Claypool's lyrics are no longer perverse or surreal, they're just all around contrived & weak.

Can we pretend this album never happened? That's pretty much what I've been doing. I mean Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People more or less picks up immediately where Tales From The Punchbowl left off. And I'm thankful for that, as Animals is the band at their best. How or why Antipop ever happened is one hell of a mystery to me, it reeks of contractual obligations, but I don't want to spend too much time thinking about it. I just want to forget it.

It's THEM

Themselves - The No Music. (2002) on Anticon

1. Home Work
2. Mouthful
3. Good People Check
4. Poison Pit
5. Live Trap
6. Only Child Explosion
7. Paging Dr. Moon Or Gun
8. Dark Sky Demo
9. You Devil You
10. Out In The Open
11. Hat In The Wind

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nec3hdi12mt

Themselves is gonna drop a FREE mixtape this week over at anticon. They've leaked some previews, over at pitchfork & XLR8R, which I can't stop listening to. It's also caused me to spin The No Music. nonstop as well.

The mixtape & following album are probably the most anticipated projects of 2009, simply because Themselves haven't released a new album since The No Music. Dose One & Jel have been busy with Subtle since then, and only returned to Themselves with the band Notwist, forming the group 13 & God. So this year marks the first time we get to hear Themselves with fresh production. Their 1999 debut Them is too raw for my tastes (as is the case with nearly all early anticon), and The No Music.'s production is better, but still murkier than what you'd like.

Despite the production, this album is still irresistible. It's pretty debatable if it's hip-hop or not, since Jel's soundscapes do more than blur lines. Dose's prose is stream-of-conscious at it's rawest, stream-of-subconscious would be a more appropriate term. He admits to things in rhyme that most people won't even admit to themselves. This is more avant garde than your standard anticon album, which says a lot, but more importantly, nothing compares.

Find Candace

Venetian Snares - Find Candace (2003) on Hymen

1. Befriend a Childkiller (Remix)
2. Mercy Funk
3. Find Candace
4. Yor
5. Children's Limbo
6. Dolleater
7. Bind Candace

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fz222hzzuzw

Venetian Snares is the name for the prolific Aaron Funk. Find Candace is one of half a dozen releases that Funk produced in 2003 alone. His output has slowed down in recent years, as he only graced us with a single full-length in 2008. But this here is one of his easily over-looked albums, as it was issued (and now deleted) on the obscure, German label, Hymen.

This is considered the "sister album" to his classic Doll Doll Doll, probably his best known album aside from his genre breaking Rossz Csillag Alatt Született. While the production is similar to Doll Doll Doll, if not a few notches higher, the content isn't as abrasive or terrifying. The track "Dolleater," which originally showed up on the the Doll Doll Doll LP, is as bleak as is gets. So it's fair to say that Find Candace is a median representation of Funk's work.

If you're wondering about the perverse artwork, it's by the Japanese based, British artist Trevor Brown, who's managed to grace quite a few Venetian Snares covers, as well as have a lot of his work confiscated by Japanese Customs, for being too pornographic.

life in MONO

i've had an ear infection for almost a full week now. i haven't been able to hear out of my right ear at all. it's as interesting as it is frustrating. obviously i have no aural disparity (or would it be "cochlear disparity"? i don't know what the proper terminology would be here), so the origin of sounds completely eludes me. except for the fact that logic & reasoning aid a whole lot more than i ever would have assumed. for example: i hear muffled dialogue, which i know is a family member on the phone in the other room, so i know where the sound is coming from, because i know what room the telephone is in.

the brain clearly does more post-processing of sounds than what i used to be aware of. an odd phenomenon is when i go to bed at night. i'll sleep on my good ear, as to not put unnecessary pressure on my bad one. but sound waves, from sources such as the frequent passing of a nearby train, will vibrate my mattress. so it'll sound like i have a train inside my mattress. hearing through an object like my mattress seems to compress the amplitude of everything, so everything that happens inside this peculiar mattress world is just about the same exact volume. it's not much of a problem when it comes to the sound of a train, i can easily tell what that is. things stop making sense however with random bumps and clanks that i can't tell what begot them.

a similar thing happens with music. things manage to cut through the mix that actually startle me. parts that i've heard & registered subconsciously now jump out, and i'm frequently mistaking them for sounds that aren't coming out of my stereo. obviously i haven't been listening to a lot of music recently, but when i do it really puts it into a different perspective. the first album i listened to after going mono was a Bear vs. Shark record. it honestly took me at least 90 seconds to register what was going on. the organized chaos had been flattened into a single dimension. without any depth it's pretty easy to get confused. so i find myself gravitating towards albums of my youth, that i haven't listened to in years, but once knew like the back of my hand. the fun part is when i listen to an album where the depth of everything is still discernible in mono. although it may just me getting better at listening to things so flatly.

as educational as this experience has been, i sure as hell wont miss it.

NASA Voyager recordings

I didnt up these, but they're too amazing to not share. The first 3 volumes are 320 kbps while the last two are only 128. Each volume is around the half-hour mark

Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 1
Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 2
Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 3
Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 4
Symphonies of the Planets Vol. 5

In the 70's NASA sent out the Voyager I & II satellites to explore the planets in our solar system. They recorded the natural electromagnetic fields of the planets & moons they passed. NASA then converted these waves to frequencies within the human spectrum of hearing. The result is surprisingly haunting. My favorites are volumes 1 & 5. Words really fail at this, so just listen.

GIANT FUCKING SQUID

Giant Squid - Monster in the Creek (2005) self released

1. Monster in the Creek
2. Dead Man's Fog
3. Age of Accountability
4. Throwing a Donner Party
5. Dare We Ask The Widow
6. Lester Stillwell

http://giantsquid.bandcamp.com/album/monster-in-the-creek

Giant Squid dropped a new album last week, so I thought I'd up this deliciously analog EP. The entire thing was recorded live to 2 inch tape, with the vocals overdubbed and then everything was mixed in analog. So the sound is pretty phenomenal, even though this was only released on CD-R. The EP was handmade in an edition of 400 copies, which is an utter shame considering how great it is.

This release was at an odd time in the band's life. They've gone through an agonizing amount of lineup changes, and at the time they recorded this they had a second keyboardist. So aside from lots of analog synths, there are three vocalists singing here, lending to a QOTSA-no-one-distinct-frontman sort of vibe.

The track "Throwing a Donner Party" got rerecorded for their newest album, also a self-released, limited edition affair.

DUB

Dub Trio - Another Sound Is Dying (2008) on Ipecac

1. Not For Nothing
2. Jog On
3. Bay Vs. Leonard
4. Felicitacion
5. Mortar Dub
6. Regression Line
7. Who Wants To Die?
8. Respite
9. No Flag
10. The Midnight Rider
11. Safe and Sane
12. Agonist
13. Fuck What You Heard
14. Funishment

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?owo5yk1tzgj

This Friday I get to see the Dillinger Escape Plan & Dub Trio. So to mark the occasion I thought I'd post some Dub Trio, a band that is definitely too under appreciated. It would make more sense to have posted their live album, but Another Sound Is Dying was one of the best albums of 2008.

Dub Trio started out with a simple enough MO: live dub. But they've evolved into a whole lot more. They've added metal, thrash, prog and everything else in between into the mix, never managing to forget the dub. Live, Dub Trio fucking nails it. Their guitarist is probably my favorite guitarist out there. He can get his guitar to sound like anything, and the dynamic between the three members is nothing short of impressive. The fact that they can pull off "Funishment" live is pretty astounding. As a band they've gotten around too. Opening for Clutch, Bad Brains, playing as the backing band for Peeping Tom, doing studio work for Matisyahu, and an upcoming tour with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

It's also worth pointing out that Martin Kvamme, the genius that did the artwork & layout for this album, as well as a plethora of other albums for Ipecac, won a Norwegian Grammy for his work on Another Sound Is Dying.

Polmo Polpo

Polmo Polpo - The Science of Breath (2002) on Alien8 Recordings

1. High Breathing
2. Oarca
3. Mid Breathing
4. Acqua
5. Low Breathing
6. Rottura
7. Complete Breath
8. Riva

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U9N24X8T

I uploaded this a while back to share elsewhere, but I might as well add it here since it's such an awesome album. Polmo Polpo is one of the many monikers of Toronto based, avant-garde musician Sandro Perri. The best description I've read is "grainy, dubbed out techno."

This is really hypnotic stuff. Loops degrade & fade away, as slide guitar slowly creeps in. The sound is relaxingly deep, as if you're at the bottom of the ocean or inside a womb. I really can't get enough of this. There's another Polmo Polpo album, but unfortunately it's not as pelagic sounding as The Science of Breath. Nowadays Sandro Perri seems to be performing under his own name, more acoustic type stuff. A personal reminder: Check out more of Alien8 Recordings, which also features Nadja and Tim Hecker. Hell, I need to expose myself to more "abstract electronic music" in general.

World/Inferno - Me V. Angry Mob

The World/Inferno Friendship Society - Me V. Angry Mob (2005) on The Company With the Golden Arm

1. Me V. Angry Mob
2. Cats Are Not Lucky Creatures
3. Leni Riefenstal at the End of Time
4. Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater
5. Paul Robeson
6. Fiend in Wien

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mjt1f5wygwt

I love EPs, and World/Inferno, so what better a way to kick off this blog? The truth is, 2006's Red-eyed Soul renders this EP obsolete, as the CD has 4 of these 6 songs, while the 2xLP version has all 6 of these songs. But there is no better introduction to this band than this.

This is basically the European version of their Speak of Brave Men EP, but with 3 extra songs. And all of these songs are golden, no filler here. "Cats Are Not Lucky Creatures" & "Leni Riefenstal at the End of Time" are probably my two favorite World/Inferno songs, with "Leni Riefenstal at the End of Time" being one of my favorite songs of all time.

One of my favorite aspects of this band is their sense of narrative. The titular track is a great example of this, as it's a story-turned-joke with the punchline at the very end. There really aren't any other bands that tell a story with such style and grace in every single song like World/Inferno does.

So give this band 20mins of your time (if you haven't already). "Cult" is always used to describe this band, because you either follow them with such devotion, or have no idea who they are, there really isn't any in between.

i decided to "jusk fucking do it" and start a music blog. i'll try to focus on more rare-ish titles, things i own myself. so all the rips will be done by me. something like 256 VBR with LAME 3.97. unless i download something that i just have to share.
let's see how badly i neglect this thing.