=  SEPTEMBER 2006 =

Tony Dale

Wooden Wand

 Mats Gustafsson

Jeff Penczak

Phil McMullen

Mick Wooding

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ANDREW LILES – THE DYING SUBMARINER

(CD/LP on Beta-Lactam Ring Records)

    Experimental musician/sound artist Andrew Liles has a long history as a collaborator with the likes of Steven Stapleton, The Hafler Trio, and Daniel Padden, but here he conjures a bathyspheric solo work from the elements of piano and reverberation. In fact, the release is subtitled 'A Concerto for Piano and Reverberation in Four Movements', though I always understood a concerto to have three movements and be for a solo instrument and orchestra of some kind. Pedantry aside, it's a concerto in spirit, with the core elements of piano forming the solo part, and reverberation the orchestration.

    From its outset, it is clear that Liles needs no words to establish narrative: the listener is instantly under the waves, experiencing the deep, muffled wavelengths of sound through water. A world of fear and mystery is evoked, and it's a dark, cold place that is barely aware of humanity, let alone welcoming of it. Occasional shafts of light penetrate, through differently shaded tone-clusters and subtle arpeggios, but the direction is overwhelmingly toward Neptune's darkness, and His throne of sodden drones. Liles uses the piano is ways that are rarely heard, and had one not known the genesis of the sounds here, electronics would have been assumed. The end of the first movement is extraordinary, with carillon crescendos suggesting ascent, fighting against the downward pull of deep bass reverberations. At times it's as if Liles is tearing out piano-strings by the fistful. Despite the potential for such releases to be one-dimensional, Liles creates distinct variations between the movements. The second movement is more clearly piano-generated, solemn chords and hesitant counterpoints suggesting a troubled internal dialogue. In narrative terms, it's easy to imagine the submariner bargaining for his life as the clock runs down.   Halfway through the movement, the tempo and tonality change, and caverns of light are suggested as if a reprieve has been granted, or at least hoped for. It's a beautiful, weightless sequence that balances the foreboding elsewhere. Delirium perhaps. Lightness and eloquence characterise the start of the third movement; ghost arpeggios echoing along a tunnel of light indicating perhaps that our imagined protagonist has began to cross over into death. But the pitch increases through the movement in an odd and unsettling way, and the overall mood suggested by its middle section is the anxiety of a soul trapped between two states of being, before some kind of resolution takes place in the final third. The fourth movement returns initially to doom-chords and flashes of light of the second movement, almost as though the overall work has transitioned from being about a submariner to being about the sea that swallows all, and especially about the life of its unknowable trenches and rifts. A constantly shifting series of tone clusters and reverberations then follows, across the spectrum of hearing from depth charges of bass to shimmering neutrino particle accelerations of high frequency. Oddly, a stumbling jazz pattern finishes it all off, suggesting maybe a cosmic joke is being played on the listener. It doesn't quite work as a conclusion, but there is no denying the magnificent work elsewhere. More varied than a pure drone work, but still minimalist in execution, 'The Dying Submariner' stands as one of the most fully realised experimental recording of recent years.

    Note: the promo disc reviewed here didn't contain one, but official copies, at least initially, should have a bonus disc titled 'A Concerto for Bowed Guitar and Reverberation in Three Movements'.  (Tony Dale)

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SUN CITY GIRLS LIVE ROOM

Three Lobed Recordings (http://www.threelobed.com/tlr/home.html)

Sun City Girls Live Room is only available as a part of Three Lobed’s ‘Modern Containment’ series but as the line-up is so frigging amazing I’m sure that won’t be a problem, or how does a subscription series including releases by Bardo Pond, Hush Arbors, Kinski, Mirror/Dash, Sun City Girls, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Matt Valentine & Erika Elder with the Bummer Road and Wooden Wand and the Omen Bones Band sound? Sun City Girls’ contribution is a 50 minute live performance originally played on Seattle radio in 1994, an odd collection of angry outbursts, oddball poetry, idiosyncratic statements, interview snippets, all backed by tinkling piano, drums, voices, shortwave radio, and all sorts of miscellaneous sounds. Just like Uncle Jim’s ‘Superstars of Greenwich Meantime’ (Abduction), this is a piece of “music” that blurs the line between genres (jazz, rock, folk, blues, noise etc) and walks the tightrope between spoken word and actual music.

Sun City Girls have been releasing some of the most essential, not to mention bizarre, always bizarre, rock music of current times and although this indeed is as strange as ever I’ll have to admit that the sonic results presented here not are as musically interesting as the majority of their back catalogue. Even though this not might be SCG at their very best it’s still blindingly apparent that they are one of the most original groups anywhere.  (Mats Gustafsson)

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WOODEN WAND AND THE OMEN BONES BAND - HORUS OF THE HORIZON

CD (www.threelobed.com)

WOODEN WAND - HAREM OF THE SUNDRUM AND THE WITNESS FIG…

CD (Beautiful Happiness)

Opening with the short and simple hymn to love that is “wand Arise”, the 23 minute “Horus” starts as an enchanting mix of acoustic strum and home spun philosophy, the songs seemingly telling personal tales, the lyrics wrapped up in rich imagery and cloaked in intimate mysteries. Further in “Black Hannah” changes the hue with some floating electric guitar and percussion adding a lysergic edge, the vocals taking on a doorsian ambience as the guitar snakes through the air with sudden bursts of venom. ON “Candace, Queen Of Witchcraft” the acoustic strum return with the conjuring up fairy tale images before the spacey guitar spider webs itself across the speakers once again. Sadly the guitarist on these small journeys is not credited, it could be Wooden Wand or possibly Keith Wood Or Satya Sai, the duo who are credited as being the Omen Bones Band. A terrible omission as the guitar playing is one of the highlight of the recording adding a striking counterpoint to the more acoustic pieces. Finally, that acoustic feel returns for the gently nostalgic “War Star Days”, a seven minute lyrical ramble, that has sixties protest songs riding close by.

The same starkness and simple beauty can be found on “Harem”, but here there is a bluesman meets Leonard Cohen attitude, the lyrics as important as the tune, with the songs having almost biblical themes, an old time preacher for the new-folk generation. This is especially evident on “Vengeance Pt. 2” and the death chant of “Babylon The Great Pt. 3”. I have played this album several times now and every time a different lyrics sparkles at me, another song becomes my favourite desert hymn, the space between the songs conjuring up a desolate yet compelling atmosphere that I last heard on Jeff Kelly’s Solo Album “Coffee In Nepal”, and although this doesn’t quite match that majestic record, it is some thing I will be returning to many times. (Simon Lewis)

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MATRICARIANS - S/T
RORY McINTYRE & THE KITCHEN CYNICS - EPHEMERA
MICKEL MASS - LOST CONVERSATIONS

CDs (les enfant du paradiddle www.myspace.com/kitchencynics  )

Three wonderful albums all featuring the talents of the ever prolific Alan Davidson, a man who never sleeps, so busy is he making quality music with his friends.

“Matricarians” is a collection of improvisations between Alan and Susan Williams, which have been given words taken from traditional songs of North East Scotland. The music uses piano and guitar as it’s base but these have been supplemented by a whole range of plucked, blown and struck instruments (both electronic and acoustic), that together create a gently rolling sonic landscape that perfectly suits the tales that the songs tell, full of lost love and local history. Throughout the album Alan’s vocal performance is rich and enticing, his singing seemingly improving with every album, and here perfectly suited to the material demonstrating his love for the local history and landscape. On “Bogie Banks” the electronic sounds come to the fore creating the sounds of winds across the mountains, giving the song a psychedelic coating which works beautifully, whilst “Ythanside” has echoed finger piano and distorted percussion at its heart, with Susan’s soft voice adding harmony to the vocals. Fans of the Kitchen Cynics will love this album as it share many similarities with Alans solo work and is yet another essential purchase.
Of course, whilst you are purchasing “Matricarians” you would be well advised to get hold of “Ephemera” at the same time, containing, as it does, some absolutely gorgeous songs that lodge themselves in your heart the first time you hear them. Featuring tunes written by both Alan and Rory, here are two musicians who complement each other perfectly whether playing as a duo, interpreting each others songs, or singing their own compositions.
 

Opening track “Your Sleepy Head” is a McIntyre/cynics composition with some lovely lyrics that paint pictures in your head, whilst “Now’s The Time” is Rorys interpretation of a song first found on Alans “Master Of The Fuzzy Fadeout” album. Elsewhere there is a fine version of “Virginia” (Marissa Nadler) from Rory, where his voice strays into Jeff Buckley territory, and a gently rambling version of “Another Time” (Tom Rapp) from Alan.
 

Over 73 minutes this album manages to maintain a level of quality that ensures that the listener is never less than enchanted or intrigued, the mix of songs and voices offering a varied yet harmonic selection of beautifully realised songs that reveal new pleasures at every turn. Something evidenced on the albums finest track “Ephemera” where the lyrics and the playing manage to create perfection in 2minutes 45 seconds.
 

Finally we turn to “Lost Conversations”, a far more experimental, free-form collection that features the talents of Mike Napier, Andy Da Kipp, Duncan Hart, Gill Thompson, and Alan Davidson, who together have created some wonderfully abstract soundscapes, full of raindrop melodies and creaking electronics. ”Half-fool Optimist” demonstrates this blend of acoustic and electronics perfectly, the piece slowly turning to chaos and disorder before “Lost Conversation” repeats the trick, the softly picked guitar and soothing cello being slowly engulfed by a swarm of electronic insects. On “For Lol (A Doffing Of The Cap)”, I presume that would be Lol Coxhill, The formula is reversed as some free-jazz noise is slowly lightened by a drifting cloud of echoed piano.
The best, however, is saved until last with a 40 minute live improvisation recorded at The Tunnels (Aberdeen), which shows the band in fine form, with chattering electronics and acoustic melodies being infused into a cello led drone, that breaks down into free noise, before the band get seriously psychedelic with some deep-space explorations that have a west-coast feel to them. Finally the stutter of the electronics take over again as the piece disintegrates with a flurry of white noise and feedback sounding like a long-lost kraut rock classic. (Simon Lewis)

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ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA - BY MEANS OF THE MIND UNIVERSE INTERFACE

(Woven Wheat Whispers www.wovenwheatwhispers.co.uk )

Woven wheat is predominately a site dedicated to folk music in all it’s various incarnations and has never been shy about presenting strange and psychedelic music through its download service. However I cannot find anything even remotely folk about this particular album, not that I am complaining, as this is a shimmering slice of hypnotic space exploration, full of floydian guitar and Orb-like rhythms that is as chilled as the dark side of the moon. Opening with the raindrop echoes of “The Ghosts” the album quickly changes gear for the eight minute “Brocken Spectre”, sounding like Tangerine Dream being re-mixed by Shpongle, the pulsating electronic loops surrounded by floating guitars and swirling synths. Some fine hallucinogenic dub is created on “Chemtrails”, and you can almost see the colours drip from the speakers as “Holography” takes you on a tranquil journey to the stars. Although much of this album is created by machines, the addition of acoustic/classical guitars, sax, flute, voice, piano and mandolin give the album a warmth and fluidity, which make it an extremely relaxed listening experience, something that is especially true of “Vibrational Structures”, the music orbiting around a distant moon, with an eastern groove adding that stoned vibe to the proceedings. Given the fact that the band consists of Orphian, LSD, Helena Rainbow, D9, airlight, GL, and The Good Doctor it is no surprise that there is more than a whiff of Hot knives and oil on this album, however the band do an excellent job of relaxing you whichever planet you happen to live on, and if you are still searching for a folk reference, then “Laurel” has a wistful guitar melody and could be compared to Tuung, meaning it could be defined as Folktronica (yuck). Whatever it is called, I like it! (Simon Lewis)

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PUMAJAW - BECOMING PUMAJAW

 (Woven Wheat Whispers www.wovenwheatwhisper.co.uk )

Every so often an album comes along that bleeds directly into your synapses, that seems to be attached by an invisible thread to your very soul. For me, at least, this magnificent late-night psychedelic folk recording did just that, the blend of acoustic instruments, found sounds and electronic atmospheres immediately resonating deep within. Opening track “buttons” has a gently picked guitar embellished with glissando, laughter and subtle percussion, the plaintive vocals strongly reminding me of “Signed DC” in it’s atmosphere and delivery. Following on, the traditional “Rosemary Lane” has a more folk feel, the beating drum leading the song forward before distorted guitars pick up the riff and propel the song into folk-rock territory. One of the most beautiful songs on the album is the mournful “ The Ivy And Roses”, the stringed instruments and vocals creating an atmosphere of loss and longing that impels you to stop and listen, the ethereal sound of the concertina only adding to the sense of loneliness. This is the fourth album by Pinkie Maclure and John Wills, although it is the first to be released under the Pumajaw name. Strangely, John Wills once played with indie-space cadets Loop, but that is probably another story, as here the duo, display a modernist folk tendency which allows them to stray into lysergic fields without losing sight of the melody of the song. Mind you, the pots and pans percussion at the start of “The Red Petticoat” is straight from the book of wyrd-folk before morphing into a slow-moving ballad that is reminiscent of Sharron Kraus, although Pinkie has a smoky vocal delivery unique to herself. Possibly the most psychedelic track on the album is the Jefferson Airplane on Valium drone of “Weather Potion”, which is coated with some mean and desolate guitar noises that slide right under your skin. Following this lonesome sound, “Downstream” is as welcome as a summer breeze starting delicately it’s sensual sounds lull you into a false sense of security before the guitars/e-bow returns, driving the song into lysergic spaces once again. A French language version of “La Chansondes Vieux Amants” (Brel / Jouannest), seems an odd choice for this album, but the languid feel and swirling concertina, offer a chance to rest and reflect, the vocals carrying the song with effortless style. The traditional “The Holly King” is next to get the Pumajaw treatment, giving the song a lively sparkle, with some fine percussive noises and a rockin’ guitar solo. Finally, “outside It Blows” is a shivering lament with a startling vocal performance, and a tense arrangement that settles like snow, giving the song an eerie winter ambience. With hints of modern and traditional folk ethics, some fine rock sensibilities and gossamer coating of psychedelic finery, this album will not disappoint you, and is recommended to anyone with an ear for quality. (Simon Lewis)

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SAND SNOWMAN - MOTH DREAM

 (Woven Wheat Whispers www.wovenwheatwhispers.co.uk )

A visit to Myspace reveals absolutely nothing about the identity of the mysterious Sand Snowman, apart from the fact he resides in London. What I do know for certain is that he makes music of many textures using a wide palette of sound, which will enthral and entice you with its joyous noise. Sounding like a funky Kraut-rock band on Opener “Ghosts Of Dust”, the organ/drum groove suddenly evaporates halfway through leaving a haze of acoustic guitar and strings that slowly drifts until some fantastic wah-wah guitar picks up the pace, the drums returning in glorious fashion. Phew, all that in six minutes. Following this delicious beginning “Moth Dream, Smokescreen” does not disappoint, the sublime guitar playing augmented and enhanced by sympathetic playing and wonderful arrangements especially when a rolling wave of keyboards crashes into the song, leaving gentle bells and drone. Third song in “Light, Space, Shadow “ does just what it says on the box, The guitar, piano and vibes, picking out the spaces between each other, the sound of dappled sunlight in woodland glade, creating a dreamtime ambience that is only broken by the arrival of the drum/ wah guitar partnership, the song turning into an ambient funk psych monster that really moves. Centrepiece of the album is the fifteen-minute “The Serpentine Suite”. Here the music twists and turns like a river, sometimes flowing calmly, leaves barely moving on its glassy surface, at other times the current becomes stronger, creating whirlpools, threatening to drown those who dare enter the flow. Throughout the piece the musicianship and sense of dynamics is superb allowing the music to lead itself, never sounding forced or artificial and displaying a great maturity in its composition. Following this epic, “Federlin” is a ghostly shadow of a song, slightly sinister and unsettling giving the feel of a comedown, edgy and uncertain. Finally, “A Brief History Of Humiliations” is a far more upbeat piece than the title conveys, the guitar playing tight and restrained. This is a hugely entertaining album that flows effortlessly across its 45 minutes and has enough variation to keep it interesting from start to finish. (Simon Lewis)

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HUSH ARBORS – LANDSCAPE OF BONE

(CD on 3-Lobed Recordings www.threelobed.com)

The Hush Arbor's 'Landscape of Bone', like the Sun City Girls CD reviewed above, is only available as a part of Three Lobed’s ‘Modern Containment’ series but the good news seems to be that subscriptions are still available, so if the smoking line-up of the series interests you, it's still possible to get on board with it. The peripatetic Keith Wood, who enjoys membership in the touring incarnations of Six Organs of Admittance, Sunburned Hand of The Man, And Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, nevertheless finds his own true voice through his high, lonesome recordings as Hush Arbors. Each new chapter in the Hush Arbors saga presents a new ecosystem to explore, in this case an ossuary landscape etched by his psych-damaged musical settings and keening Neil Young-esque vocals. 'Bones of a Thousand Sun' adorns its angelic melody with cavernous, rumbling sub-frequency mischief and the sort of fried six-string mutilations that get described as "acid leads" in rare record dealers catalogs. 'Broken Bones' is celestial country that calls to mind Gram Parsons in the sense that is sounds like the dance of his swirling ashes and airborne spirit over Joshua Tree National Monument. 'Oar of Bone' finger-picks and fuzzes it was way though the lanes of an autobahn reserved for angels, before reaching a tangled interchange of guitar solos and epic chords. 'Bones by the Sea' is a ramshackle country reinvention that I would have loved to be able to decode the words of, but it is quite hard with Wood's vocal style. 'Nine Bones' closes the release out with an extended workout in the pattern of a folk-rock sea shanty (of sorts, nothing is that direct on a Hush Arbors record). The magnetic fields of its melody structure are utterly compelling in a way that has them gyrating in one's mind for hours after listening to the record. At the centre of the track is a guitar meltdown like downed power lines that arc and set fire to tinder-dry savannah. Like a work with a final act that consumes what has gone before, nothing is left but ash and bone. (Tony Dale)

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KEIJI HAINO & SITAAR TAH! – ‘ANIMAMIMA’ (Important)

P.O. Box 1281 Newburyport, MA 01950 USA

     Not to be confused with the similarly-sounding EP by the Icelandic string quartet that frequently backs Sigur Ros, this (now out of print at the source, but a few copies are probably floating around the internet shops) sprawling, 97-minute collaboration (one track spread across two CDs) between Japanese guitar god Haino (Fushitsusha) and a 20-piece sitar orchestra (Sitaar Tah!) was recorded live on June 26, 2004 at Uplink Factory in Tokyo. When Haino took the stage, the audience and, judging from the hesitant opening strains, Haino himself had no idea where the evening’s entertainment was going to take them. Like the opening segment to the title track of Ghost’s ‘Hypnotic Underworld,’ the excruciatingly long “feeling out” process takes nearly eight minutes before “something happens,” and that something is not Haino whipping off one of his patented ear-bleeding guitar solos, but an exploratory flute passage that continues our musical equivalent of ‘Waiting For Godot.’ Thirteen minutes deep into these hesitant meanderings, I’m wondering if this isn’t going to be Haino & Co.’s sonic recreation of the old proverb that the joy of the journey is not in the reaching of one’s destination, but in the journey itself.

     After sixteen minutes of “nothing happening,” the frustration quotient is at an all-time high, unless the listener is willing to suspend their desire that a musical composition must have an ultimate destination. For after twenty minutes it appears that Haino, to quote Dylan, “ain’t going nowhere” and he’s ultimately gonna take 97 minutes to get there. In other words, the ‘Animamima’ listening experience is tantamount to waiting 97 minutes for the other shoe to drop. So having abandoned our Western, destination-focused musical mindset, we can reapproach the composition and be enveloped by its hallucinatory drone, which sounds like a repetitive series of motorik, bowed sitar notes interspersed with Haino’s occasional flute bursts.

     An extremely challenging, yet ultimately rewarding piece of music that can serve as both a spiritual soundtrack to a meditative state or a relaxing backdrop to a casual stroll through the Japanese Fine Arts section of your local museum. Just remember, Grasshopper, that the joy is in the journey or, in the elegant words of the famous Western philosopher Lemmy Kilmister, “the chase is better than the catch.” (Jeff Penczak)

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ANOICE – ‘REMMINGS’ (Important)

P.O. Box 1281 Newburyport, MA 01950 USA

     This Japanese quintet’s debut CD is one of those proverbial mysteries wrapped inside an enigma buried within a conundrum. For starters, that puzzling title is derived from the stereotypical manner in which the Japanese might mispronounce “lemmings,” which explains those rat-like creatures adorning the album cover. Next, only the even-numbered tracks have titles, although the band leaves spaces next to all the track numbers in the digipak packaging, suggesting the listener can change those if they wanted to while they were in the process of providing titles to the odd-numbered tracks. The game becomes even more challenging once you realise that all the songs are instrumentals, so there are no lyrical clues from which to derive a title. Finally, only given names are provided, making it extremely difficult to track down the members’ past musical associations. So it’s not exactly the best way to break into the English-speaking musical universe, but I’m sure that’s exactly the way the band wants it – they let their music do the talking and what the songs are called and who is playing them is secondary to that experience.

     And what an experience it is! The opening (untitled) track begins the album like a lotus petal opening to a new day: tentative, meandering and groggy-eyed. Matsu’s thundering, rolling bassline and Yossy’s militaristic drum beats marshall in ‘Asprin Music’ (I’m sure the misspelling is intentional), whose title suggests our hearty partying participants may be searching for a hangover remedy for the previous evening’s revelries! The third (again untitled) track scampers around your head like the titular Lemmings, er Remmings. It’s very cinematic in its creation of a mental picture and sounds like a cue for a tense, dramatic scene reminiscent of a cue from a Bernard Herrmann or Ennio Morricone film score. ‘Kyoto’ finds Utaka’s viola magisterially building upon Yuki’s classical piano bed and the combination created an image of a shogun or warlord triumphantly entering the city after emerging victorious from a battle with the local competition.

     The fifth (untitled) track is essentially a delicate Yuki piano solo, while ‘Liange’ is an emotionally wrenching tearjerker with Utaka’s viola sweeping through the room on the soft bed of Yuki’s delicate piano tinkling. Comparisons with Godspeed You Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion are inevitable, but Anoice’s arrangements are more cinematic and classical, relying more upon melody to convey their emotional message than GYBE’s typical loud/soft dynamic. Fans of Japanese composer Kitaro will also find much to enjoy throughout the album, particularly the grandiose elegance of ‘The Three-Days Blow,’ with Utaka’s viola carrying the melody like a butterfly skating across a lemon meringue pie. Overall, a triumphant introduction to Japan’s neo-classical movement and one of the year’s warmest, most relaxing releases. (Jeff Penczak)

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CHARLIE SCHMIDT - XANTHE TERRA

(CD on Strange Attractors Audio House www.strange-attractors.com )

Supposedly the title 'Xanthe Terra' refers to Mars, the "red planet" (but it can be yellowy gold if Charlie says so I suppose), and the album is intended to accompany you on an imaginary walk thereon. Personally I think I'd want something a little more, uh, spacey than intricate American folk guitar playing in my iPod as I strolled around the alien landscapes, but it's a nice idea all the same. Charlie Schmidt is something of a student of the late John Fahey. He's serious about it, and has practiced and practised until he's virtually note perfect. One song is even played on an instrument once played by the Great Man himself. The detailed liner-notes of this collection of original arrangements, which range from the Stravinsky influenced 'Firebird' via the American Primitive atmosphere of the Basho-esque 'Salem Journey' to the trad.arr. 'Slavic Mountain', with a splendid cover of Fahey's 'Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Philip XIV of Spain' tossed in along the way, will have you nodding sagely and scratching your beard thoughtfully even if you don't possess one. There's even some small, Germanic jokes to chuckle over: "[named] after the terrible Norwegian tortilla rebellion of 1812". And therein lies a clue to what for me is the solitary fault with this album: it's brilliantly played, flawless in every technical regard, and yet like Mars itself it somehow lacks warmth. It's Fahey by Numbers. Fans will love this; and I count myself amongst fans of the man, the music, the genre and for that matter the label - Strange Attractors rarely puts a foot wrong, and hasn't done this time either (kudos incidentally to the ace graphic design by Josh Pfeffer). I think I'll wait until I've seen Charlie play live though before inviting him to play the next Terrastock ahead of Glenn Jones and/or Jack Rose. At least you're guaranteed some passion and a laugh with those two; and I think even Mr Fahey himself would have approved of that. (Phil McMullen)

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DEAD MOON – ECHOES OF THE PAST

(Sub Pop www.subpop.com)

Right, let’s cut to the chase.  This double CD is ESSENTIAL if you have not yet been touched by the gloriousness of Dead Moon.  It contains 49 prime lumps of guitar riffery delivered from the heart.  Of course, anyone with a modicum of taste would already own all 10 studio LP’s by this band but if you are new to the Dead Moon experience this is a good place to start.

    Dead Moon released their first LP in 1988 and have continued with the same line up ever since.  That’s Fred Cole on guitar and vocals, Toody on bass and vocals and Andrew Loomis on drums.  They have released 10 studio LPs, assorted singles and several live LPs since then and have toured the US and Europe relentlessly in the interim.  This is one hard working band and most of their output has been self-released on their own ‘Tombstone’ label.  (Visit them at www.deadmoonusa.com).

You may recognise the name Fred Cole, he was in ‘The Lollipop Shop’ in the sixties.  They released the seminal ‘You Must Be A Witch’, a mainstay of many a sixties garage punk/psychedelic compilation.  Such modern garage luminaries as The Monomen and the Fuzztones have also reverently covered it.  Fred has been making music steadily ever since.

(Phil adds: Dead Moon were also featured extensively in Ptolemaic Terrascope issue 5 in 1989, in what was the band's first major interview outside of the USA I believe. An exclusive, alternate version of 'Walking On My Grave' also appeared on the EP with that issue, and for a long while we followed their releases in our reviews columns. I'll try and get some of that out of the archives and posted online in due course...)

But, enough of the history lesson.  What makes Dead Moon so great? (Why am I asking you?  I’m unlikely to get a reply.  Perhaps I’d better just tell you instead)

For me, what makes them great is their ability to meld so many styles together whilst keeping their own distinctive sound.  I can here elements of punk, garage, psychedelia, folk, blues and country in there but Dead Moon never simply ape these styles, unlike many other bands.  Neither do Dead Moon go in for a big production sound – go buy the latest Oasis offering if you want that.  Dead Moon are strictly DIY and their own mixes, though sometimes a little primitive, add to the overall ambience of the sound.

Fred does the bulk of the vocals with Toody contributing on several tracks.  Neither can be described as ‘pitch perfect’ in their approach but both deliver right from the heart and can snarl or sound tortured with guttural effect as the music dictates.

Fred’s guitar work is the other essential ingredient in the Dead Moon sound.  This man consistently manages to create crunching, driving guitar riffs that grab you by the balls and wrench!

So, to the discs.  I will not even attempt to individually appraise each of the 49 songs at length as you all probably have lives to lead and would rather not be plugged into your computer for next three days.  Instead I will go through the tracks collected here historically, highlighting which tracks come from which releases. (Well, fairly historically – I’ve got a life too you know!  I haven’t analysed release dates to the enth degree or anything!).  I hope this approach makes sense.  If it doesn’t, just read on and you’ll get the gist anyway, (hey, what do you want for nothing? I do this for love you know, if you want me to start making sense consistently you can start paying me pal!  You want Lester Bangs – you pay for Lester Bangs!  ……….Hmmm…time for a sedative me thinks.)

Still here?  Good. On with the review.

Their 1988 debut ‘In the graveyard’ is represented here by two tracks.  ‘Graveyard’ is updated garage punk with a chugging guitar riff that makes my toes curl (or maybe I just need a larger size in socks).  It is a fantastic track and was covered by the Nomads on the flip of their ‘Pack Of Lies’ 7”.  The Nomads are obviously Dead Moon fans and if you check out the cover their ‘Powerstrip’ LP on Munster you will spy Jocke Ericson their drummer wearing a Dead Moon t-shirt.  (Oh dear, maybe that’s taking music trivia a bit too far!  Remembering what a band member was wearing on the cover of a 1994 LP could be construed as rather sad.  Note to self…it’s a fine line between being a mine of musical information and being a record nerd!).

The second track is the haunting ‘I hate the blues’ which ironically sees simple snare and bass creating a sparse blues number.

‘Black September’ is a scorching track from a 1989 7”.

1989’s ‘Unknown Passage’ LP has five of its tracks represented here - and for good reason.  My favourite Dead Moon track ‘54/40 or fight’ is included here in live format and shreds the speakers with as much gusto as the studio version from the original LP.  I recently drunk far too much one afternoon with fellow Terrascope reviewer Simon Lewis and we put this on to ‘pep us up’ before we went back out to a party that evening.  It sure did the trick!

‘Evil eye’ has another great chugging guitar riff and ‘Dead moon night’ is another favourite of mine – a raucous treat of grinding guitar with a throbbing middle eight.  By contrast ‘My escape’ is a moody piece directed by Toody’s hypnotic bass line and ‘A miss of you’ is a slow piece with soulful vocals.

Another five tracks are from 1990’s ‘Defiance’, ‘Walking on My Grave’ sees Fred bemoaning “the new kids” taking his place whilst ‘Johnny’s got a gun’, sung by Toody, has a real punk feel to it putting me in mind of San Francisco’s ‘Avengers’.  ‘I’m out nine’ is another soulful ballad and ‘Kicked out kicked in’ is another guitar-based pounder.  The track ‘Unknown Passage’ is a beautiful, slow, laid back song given a melancholic air by Fred’s haunting vocals.

The excellent 7” tracks ‘DOA’ from 1990 and ‘Over the edge’ from 1991 are also included on this collection.  There is also a punky track called ‘Running Scared’ from a European Dead Moon compilation from 1990.

1991 also saw the release of ‘Stranded In The Mystery Zone’ from which five tracks are culled here.  ‘Jane’ begins with a prominent vocal harmony from Fred and Toody before crashing into the main riff.  ‘A Fix on you’ showcases a screaming Fred over another perfect ‘in your face’ guitar riff.  ‘Sorrows forecast’ is Fred’s personal ode to non-compromise and not licking butt to realise his career.  ‘Castaways’ is a slower moodier number whilst ‘Down the Road’ makes use of sparse verses to really build and kick in to the “down the road” chorus line.

There are six tracks from 1992’s ‘Strange Pray Tell’.  ‘Room 213’ is a slow de-constructed blues about things sinister in room 213.  More up-tempo fuzz guitar heralds ‘Fire in the western world’ and ‘Can’t do that’ is a gentle piece with a sublime picked guitar line.  Toody snarls through ’13 going on 21’ and ‘Destination X’ has a slow but driving riff and a vocal line delivered right from the gut.  A real highlight is ‘Going South’, a fuzzed-out blues with rasping vocals.

1994’s ‘Crack in the system’ has four tracks here with ‘Poor Born’ reminding me of an AC/DC homage and ‘Cast will change’ giving another great example of a Dead Moon up-tempo rocker.  ‘It’s OK’ has all the trappings of a Dead Moon anthem and ‘Too far gone’ is a slow, sparse, mournful track.

In 1994 Dead Moon also released ‘Nervous Sooner Changes’ which has six tracks on this compilation.  ‘Running out of time’ is another Toody vocal track and ‘Psychedelic Nightmare’ has a heavy rock riff Black Sabbath would have killed for.   ‘Area 51’ is fast and in your face and rattles along like an out of control locomotive.   ‘Somewhere far away’ is a slow ballad with particularly effective backing vocals from Toody.  The fast and furious ‘Diamonds in the rough’ is another blistering high point and Toody gives a heart-rending vocal on ‘I won’t be the one’.

The band released ‘Destination X’ in 1999 and here you have the slow-ish ‘On another plane’ sung in harmony by Fred and Toody and the guitar based ‘Point of no return’.  ‘Last Train’ has excellent texture, a descending picked guitar line leading into a strummed section pointed by Andrew Loomis’ spot-on drumming.

2001’s ‘Trash and Burn’ gives us another six tracks, with ‘Ricochet’ giving us more of that Dead Moon chugging guitar and, as always, it is driven forward by Andrew Loomis’ expert skin work.  Fred and Toody take joint vocals on ‘The way it is’ and quiet verses give way to rousing choruses on ‘These times with you’.  The superb ’40 miles of bad road’ sees a great, tight guitar riff pushing the song forward over Toody’s hypnotic bass run.  The dramatic ‘Never again’ uses thumping minor chords to give it a moody air and ‘Sabotage’, propelled by primal drums, distorted guitar and snarled lyrics, has a really catchy chorus line you just want to shout along to.

Overall, this is a superb document of Dead Moon’s body of work though of course with a band of this calibre you will always feel there are glaring omissions.  2004’s ‘Dead Ahead’ LP is not represented at all and the superb single ‘Dirty Noise’ (ironically their only release on Sub Pop) is also missing.  Having said that, I have all 10 studio LPs (on glorious vinyl) and in my opinion there is not one LP that I think is inferior, or indeed any tracks that I do not like.  It must have been a hard job to pick just 49.

Dead Moon are quite simply excellent so go buy this CD and be touched by their brilliance. (Mick Wooding)

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KEITH CHRISTMAS – LIGHT OF THE DAWN

(BECN 3 Perretts Court, Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UF, UK)

     Singer/songwriter Christmas is in his fifth decade in the music industry, having guested on “about 5 tracks, including ‘God Knows I’m Good’” on Bowie’s ‘Man of Words, Man of Music’ [later reissued as ‘Space Oddity’] and recorded and released his debut album ‘Stimulus’ [with Mighty Baby as his backing band, no less!] back in 1969. He played the original Glastonbury Fayre in 1970, lived in hippie/musician communes, released two solo albums on Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore imprint, toured with King Crimson and The Who, and recently released a retrospective of his second and third solo albums, ‘Timeless & Strange’ that was one of our favourite reissues of 2004, as well as an essential acoustic instrumental album (‘Acoustica’) on Woronzow. Christmas is a sensitive and astute songwriter who is equally adept at painting picaresque images of youthful exuberance and tragic tales from love’s battlefields. He recently started revisiting songs penned in his youth, some released, others relegated to mouldy shoe boxes on dusty closet shelves, assembled a live repertoire of old and new favourites and began performing at folk clubs in and around his home in Bristol. ‘Light of the Dawn’ presents a dozen new recordings, many from the live set, in a relaxed setting that effectively simulates the late-night ambience of a folky, smoky coffee house or club. Budding musicians can even play along at home, thanks to Christmas’ helpful tuning and capo instructions in the booklet, which also houses the lyrics.

    The opening and title track will resonate with those who enjoy all-night parties and road-weary musicians driving home a little worse for wear to the dawn’s early light rising over your home town in the distance with the promise of a roof overhead and a warm bed underneath. Christmas’ resume also includes a stint with the blues band Weatherman that led to a self-titled album in the early 90s, and ‘Slave To Your Love,’ ‘Heart, Soul, Body and Mind,’ and ‘Let the Devil’ are all testaments to those days and illustrate the variety of Christmas’ songwriting skills. ‘Stone With A View’ has an interesting story dating back to his days opening for Crimson in 1972. I encourage everyone considering a life of fame and fortune in the music business to follow along with the lyrics as Christmas relates the tale of the final show on that tour. All you road-weary warriors will certainly just nod along and smile, “Yup! Been there…done that!” I also detected a hint of Roy Harper’s resigned acceptance and storytelling skills in the track that suggests the two may be kindred spirits who probably met along the M1 sometime in their careers.

     ‘Living In A World’ is one of the album’s most recent songs (penned in late 2005) wherein Christmas encourages everyone to keep going during even the roughest of times (he, himself, had endured a medical scare and the dissolution of his marriage): “Cause when you feel like throwing in the hat/Just remember that/You’re living in a world full of good people….” Finally, perhaps the album’s most memorable song is also its most heartbreaking: ‘Lovers of The Light’ is Christmas’ version of the late West Country singer, Dave Mudge’s ‘Lowly Low,’ which had previously been adapted by Al Stewart as ‘Modern Times.’ It’s a simple, stop and smell the roses message set to a rousing, uplifting melody that also suggests that we are the masters of our own destinies and can ill afford to wait for others to step up and right the world’s wrongs.

     Christmas’ performances, mainly of the unaccompanied acoustic variety, are impeccable throughout, reminding me, admittedly during a wishful-thinking, romantic streak, of what a still-living Nick Drake might have been doing today, particularly on the more technically difficult tracks like ‘She Came To Me,’ ‘Slave To Your Love,’ and ‘Western Man,” which Keith says “took something like 60 takes over 3 weeks before I got it down to my satisfaction.” (He bills it as his “first ever solo CD” and told me “It recently occurred to me that I had always made albums with other musicians on them, which had two effects: anyone who bought the record couldn’t see me perform it live because I couldn’t afford the musicians, and those that saw me play live could only buy an album or CD that had other players on it. So I set about creating what has become ‘Light of the Dawn.’) It’s great to hear Keith releasing original material again and ‘Light of the Dawn’ is another essential addition to the collections of fans of folk/rock/blues singer/songwriters everywhere. (Jeff Penczak)