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= Rumbles :: April 2005 =
Greetings, and welcome to the first edition of the new digital Rumbles; cleaner, greener but still full of the natural goodness that only The Terrascope can provide. Thanks go to Phil for letting me continue in the role of reviews editor, and to my lovely wife Cara, for putting up with the constant stream of brown envelopes falling through the letterbox. Shall we dance?
Census Of Hallucination have managed to create a spacey and unsettling atmosphere on ‘nine lives’ which start as a standard space-rock album before the sonic landscape slowly and inescapably changes into a trippier realm where the voices in your head come alive. Like taking hallucinogens in someone else’s house, you are never sure if everything is as it should be, although you are still laughing at the absurdity of it all.(Stone Premonitions : Arch House, Front St, Alston, Cumbria, CA9 3QW. stonepremonitions@fsmail.net ).
As elusive as the weather, it is nearly impossible to categorize thebrotheregg, their latest CD ‘aortica mor’ and the strange sounding songs within. Maybe it’s the off-kilter vocal delivery that gives each song it’s individual feel, or maybe the surreal, stream of consciousness words themselves. Add to that a wide array of lo-fi instrumentation, including some poetic string arrangements, and you have an album that swirls around your ears in an unique and enchanting way , drawing you in slowly but surely. (Bingo lady records P.O. Box 1712 billings mt 59103 www.bingoladyrecords.com)
From music hall to Mexico, sixties freakbeat to nineties new wave, Robyn Hitchcock to Bevis Frond, The Slow Poisoners have managed to cram a large hats’ worth of influences and ideas into ‘Melodrama’ their latest album. Packed with melody and a crisp production every song is a delight, full of inventiveness and subtle wordplay Add to that an audio play involving the girl fallen on hard times and the evil landlord fighting the inevitable hero, and you know that humour is a vital part of the bands’ identity. A melodic delight. (Rocktupus records www.rocktopusrecords.com ).
Filled with the sound of the Mellotron ‘chameleon mood swing’ by Lemmus Lemmus (the Latin name for the lemming) is a dream-laden journey that floats off into prog/psych territories with consummate ease. Throughout the album a relaxed pace is maintained with standout tracks ‘hands of time’ and ‘ silly princess’ achieving a fragile beauty. ( lemmus@muchomail.com ).
Two of the most beautifully packaged items to arrive recently were released by nidnod records (c/o jw: park lodge, 1 soane st, Ipswich, Suffolk, ip4 2be. www.a-version.co.uk/nidnod), and arrived wrapped in brown paper/string. First to be unwrapped was ‘sateen’ by kuupuu, a magical blend of song and sound full of child-like songs and giving the impression that the world is full of fairy-folk. Unwrapping the next package revealed ‘the story of the king who would see paradise’- phosphene, which is their interpretation of a traditional fairy tale first published in 1906.The voice of john cavanagh is perfectly suited to this tale and he brings the whole story to life with a wonderful and expansive soundtrack. In these hi-tech days, it is refreshing to see such care being taken over these releases, with their hand-made covers and attention to detail bringing some magic back into our lives.
For me, cover versions only work when something is radically altered from the original version, otherwise why bother? It was with some trepidation then, that I approached ‘everything comes & goes: a tribute to Black Sabbath’ (temporary residence. Po box 60097 Brooklyn ny 11206 usa.) Featuring nine bands attempting some classic Sabbath material. Opening track F/X – matmos is as dull as the Sabbath original being exactly as described,. Track two and Japanese noise-merchants Ruins manage to combine every Sabbath riff into a two and a half minute medley, follow this with a fuzzed-up, instrumental, wyrd-folk version of ‘black sabbath’ courtesy of Grails, and you realise that something strange is going on. Four-tet continue the instrumental folk feel with a delicate and interesting version of ‘iron man’, before The Curtis Harvey Trio transform ‘changes’ into a lilting country ballad. The volume is cranked up, with Paul Newman and their stop start version of ‘fairies wear boots’, before The Anomoanon use ‘planet caravan’ for some deep –space exploration featuring some exquisite guitar playing. Racebannon sound like the butthole surfers as they pummel ‘sabbath bloody sabbath’ to death in spectacular fashion, whilst Greeness w/ Philly G add electronic seasoning and a nu-metal flavour to ‘sweet leaf ‘. Highly recommended.
Continuing the noisy theme, we have No Life Orchestra whose self-titled mini album is a satisfying blend of noise, invention, and skewed rhythm, coming across like king crimson meeting the pixies in a dark alley. (Luftwaffel records www.luftwaffel.com ).
Recorded in 2003 and recently released is ‘old smiler’-Mt Gigantic which is full of songs that manage to defy easy description, whilst forging an identity of their own. Within them you can hear echoes of Zappa, beach boys and Gorky’s, as well as the ghost of early eighties new wave/punk. Each song seems to mutate at will, moving from harmony to noise without missing a beat, creating an invigorating whole which is too short at only 35 minutes. (friend and relatives records po box 23 Bloomington, IN 47402 USA
www.friendsandrelativesrecords.com )
Now it’s time for a quick word from our friend and regular review writer, Jeff Penczak.
The prolific rock scribe Dave Thompson adds Genesis to his one-man
library of rock bios (other volumes include examinations of the careers of
Cream, Psychedelic Furs, The Cure, The Fall, Suede, New Order, David Bowie
and Kurt Cobain) with this well-informed, bird's-eye (over) view of "one of
the most successful rock acts of all time." 'Turn It On Again!' is a
thoroughly researched roadmap that follows the band that eventually launched
six solo careers of varying success from their humble mid-60s beginnings in
the British public school, Charterhouse (where members of The Garden Wall
(Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks and Chris Stewart), Anon (Anthony Phillips) and
The Climax (ex-Anon member, Mike Rutherford) combined their respective
talents under the watchful eye of another Charterhouse alum, DJ/producer/pop
star, Kenneth "Jonathan" King) to their final death throes almost exactly 30
years later. While Thompson's personal interviews with the group's
illustrious vocalists, Gabriel and Phil Collins are over twenty years old
(1982 and 1981 respectively) and he didn't talk to original guitarist,
Phillips at all, his conversations with Banks, Rutherford, Steve Hackett
and, perhaps most importantly, the band's late manager/mentor, Tony
Stratton-Smith are all ripe with wonderful anecdotes and behind-the-scenes
honesty that adds a touch of humility and humanity to the narrative.
While die-hard fans will probably find few "revelations," the casual
observer will appreciate Thompson's assimilation of over a dozen previously
published bios (many currently out of print), websites, discographies, music
journals and periodicals into a one-stop shopping resource that may be the
only book which accurately, entertainingly and completely covers their
entire 30-year career. An exhaustive discography includes every Genesis
release, along with the member's various solo and side projects, from
Collins' Flaming Youth and Brand X to Hackett's GTR to Rutherford's Mike &
The Mechanics. Thompson's well-reasoned analysis of each album is
refreshingly honest and, where warranted, occasionally brutal. There's even
a complete discography of Stratton-Smith's Charisma label, which was the
home to bands as diverse as Van der Graaf Generator (and their vocalist,
Peter Hammill), Lindisfarne, The Nice, String Driven Thing, Bert Jansch,
Hawkwind, Rick Wakeman, Julian Lennon, Malcolm McLaren, Alan Parsons Project
and the entire "studio" output of Monty Python's Flying Circus! All in all,
a welcome addition to the rock and roll bookshelf of any serious student of
British progressive and, ultimately popular commercial music of the last
three decades. Its most lasting impact may be the frighteningly sad, but
historically accurate account of not just Genesis' fall from popular favour
(their last studio album, 'Calling All Stations' was one of their weakest
sellers), but how even the solo releases of the once-unstoppable hit
juggernaut, Collins have fallen on deaf ears. And its most telling trick of
the tail may be that the band that began it's career as one of the most
thoroughly "British" of all progressive rock acts would ultimately abandon
its home country (Genesis' British tours during their latter years were
practically non-existent) and call it a day only after "the total collapse
of its American profile had seriously dented the group's
confidence. 'Turn It On Again!' - Dave Thompson (Backbeat
Books, 600 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94197 USA;
www.backbeatbooks.com) (Jeff Penczak)
. Put on your favourite paisley shirt and groove. (Laughing Outlaw Records. laughingoutlaw@talk21.com)
Another album that vigorously nods it’s head toward the fab four is ‘jalopy pop’ the second album from Sparkwood. Hailing from Austin, the band serves up a whole dessert trolley full of sweet pop delight. Main man Bart Padar possesses a voice that perfectly suits the pop sensibilities of the tunes; a point illustrated perfectly by ‘Cruel World’ a song that comes close to perfection with its beautiful keyboard motif and spot-on harmonies. Just add sunshine for the total pop experience. (bpadar@hotmail.com www.sparkwood.com ).
Right enough of the sweetness, let’s rock. Demon’s Claw are a product of the Montreal music scene and make a distorted guitar racket on their self-titled debut album that swaggers out of your speakers with great purpose. Influenced by 60’s garage the songs are short, chaotic, and will pound you into submission before helping you back to your feet again. (Dead Canary Records P.O. Box 10276, Columbus, OH 43201. inbox@deadcanaryrecords.com )
More sixties garage joy is provided by Les Hell On Heels, four leather clad rock sirens whose debut album is laced with bad attitude and bloody good songs. Sounding like The Ramones younger sisters, these girls know exactly where the volume pedal is and stamp on it with reckless abandon..All the way through the riff is the thing and with ‘He’s Alright’, ‘Ain’t So Cool’ and ‘ Waste Of Time’, to name but three, the proverbial nail is hit firmly and squarely on its garage shaped head. (Bomp Records www.bomp.com).
Dennis Most, a stalwart of the U.S garage/punk scene, provides more guitar-trashing fun on two recently re-issued albums. First up is Dennis Most And The Instigators-‘vampire city’ (Trash 2001 Records www.trash2001.de) that collects together 11 killer tracks recorded between 1979 and 1983. Definitely more 70’s punk than 60’s garage, the band kick up a storm of epic proportions, every song providing a short sharp adrenaline rush of punk energy. Standout tracks include legendary single ‘Penetrate’ and ‘Beneath Me Queen’ which will have you pogoing around the living room with its stooges- like intensity. Also available is Dennis Most And Audiolove- ‘Live At The El Cid, December 1976. (Captain Trip Records info@captaintrip.co.jp) Recorded primarily for the bands personal use, the recording has the quality of a good bootleg and it takes a while for a good balance to be achieved. This does not detract from the energy displayed by the band however, as they rip through a mixture of self-penned material and some tasty covers including ‘Signed D.C, ‘Who Are The Brain Police?’ , ‘I Fought The Law’ and, bizarrely , ‘Lucifer Sam’. Throughout both albums Mr Love proves himself a more than capable guitarist whilst the bands provide a solid foundation for the songs. Music to drink beer to, and lots of it.
First formed in 1985 The Bags were together for six years, two albums and a handful of singles. During this time they gained a reputation as ferocious live outfit with their fiery brand of punk noise. Now, fourteen years later they have returned with “sharpen your sticks” a brain-crunching album full of bass heavy riffs and bad attitude. Opening track ‘bucket of blood’ says it all short, loud and excellent, times this by fifteen and you have an album of wholesome punk energy to get you going in the morning!! ( www.thebags.org )
Greece is perhaps not the first place you would associate with instrumental garage surf punk but the invisible surfers aim to change that with their collection of high-energy stompers. Played with confidence and precision each song is a perfectly formed tribute to the twangy guitar sounds of Dick Dale, and the sun, surf and easy living mystique of mid-sixties California. With a tight rhythm section anchoring the tunes, the guitar is allowed to roam freely creating an effective and original whole. Special mention must go to the amazing version of ‘Runaway’ which is fantastic and is guaranteed to make you move.(Andreas Zorbas higher_ups@yahoo.gr )
Time now to hand you over to a new member of the Rumbles team. Alan Davidson, kitchen cynic and all-round good egg,who will now lead you through a few more choice items. Take it away Alan.
On her second solo release, ‘my little fire-filled heart’, Tara Vanflower (ex Lycia) paints washes of sonic unsettlement. Her voice seductively lures the listener into dark places where the music offers loops of sugarcoated poison. There’s an effective cover of Death In June’s ‘The honour of silence’, and many of the original lyrics explore the ins and outs of love and loss in appropriately dark fashion. (silber 039 www.silbermedia.com)
From Louisville Kentucky, birthplace of Muhammad Ali, come Parlour, and whereas Ali famously floated like a butterfly then stung like a bee, on their ‘hives fives’ ep Parlour manage to float and sting simultaneously. This buzzes along nicely, propelled by some Jaki Liebezeit-styled drumming, and a winning combination of 80s sounding synths and Canterbury-esque wind instrumentation all updated into a maelstrom of post-rock playfulness. (The temporary residence limited. TRR 82 www.parlour.net)
I was pleased to see that Puerto Muerto helped out on Matthew Bayot’s ‘Circling Buzzards’. While he takes a much more laid-back approach than the formers “tickle you under the chin/stab you in the back” methodology, he is every bit as effective. The lyrics are often wittily pithy, and the melody brimming with hooks, but what really grabs you is the instrumental mix of sitar, banjo, tabla etc, creating an understated folk/psychedelia with lots of appeal. (FIRECD93 www.firerecords.co )
Somewhere in the slowly-spinning whirlpool where ambient meets pop, Howard Hello are swimming, all the while creating counter currents of gentle repetition. On their self-titled ep, group mainstays Kenseth Thibideau and Marty Anderson offer 4 tracks of melt-in-your-mouth gorgeousness, with angelic female guest vocalists Amber Coffman and Chelsea Rose adding the icing to a cake that should appeal to fans of Stereolab, or possibly Sigur Ros. (Temporary residence ltd press@temporaryresidence.com)
Last Visible Dog have reissued Anthony Milton’s ‘sirens’ and ‘And where the coloured planes are rafts’ cassettes, and a big “well done!” to them for having done so. The music is very personal, being direct responses to a rediscovery of the mysticism inherent in New Zealand’s natural world, after the sensory numbing of city life. The recording quality is very lo-fi, and all the better for it, with an overall organic feel achieved by violin, guitar and vocal lines recorded to 4-track portastudio in a simple but heartfelt manner. (Last Visible Dog 059 www.lastvisibledog.com)
If you haven’t already got them, then the reissue of the Ozark Mountain Daredevil’s self-titled album from 73 (known to fans as ‘the Quilt album’), and 74’s ‘It’ll shine when it shines’ in one package is a must-have for fans of impeccably played country rock. It’s still a mystery why they never achieved the success their well-crafted songs deserved….perhaps they were just a little bit too country to gain the mass appeal achieved by the likes of the Eagles, although the latter of these two albums has a rockier edge and spawned the US hit “Jackie Blue”. (BGO Records www.bgo-records.com). Also reissued on BGO are ‘Son Of Spirit ‘ / ‘Farther Along’ by Spirit and if you don’t own them already then now is the time to fill that gaping hole in the collection, as both albums are full of the qualities that make spirit such an essential band.
San Francisco’s tell-all records Vol 1 compilation manages the rare feat of achieving a unified sound that might have been the result of one band. However the likes of Liam Singer, Peter Surla and One Umbrella (although it’s a shame to single anybody out….everyone here has produced a pleasing sound) still retain an individuality that suggests future releases by all should be very well worth hearing. Some of the gentle vocals seem to inhabit the same general area as Eric Matthews, and this album has that same quality of effortless calm, with only the occasional unsettling moment. (Tell-all records p.o. box 40298 San Francisco CA 94140-0298 www.tellallrecords.com)
Thanks for that Alan, gave me time to grab a quick cuppa before diving back in.
Enuma Elish are a duo consisting of Warren Jones (sax, clarinet, loops/samples) and Yuri Zbitnoff (drums/percussion), together they make a glorious psychedelic jazz noise on their second album leviathan, which demonstrates an impressively wide palate within it’s seven tracks. The music is all improvised yet retains a compositional structure that generates dynamic tension, no more so than on ‘Leviathan’ a track that contains beautiful warmth within its texture. ‘Nampa’ changes the pace with some glorious funk rhythms, whilst ‘The Arrival’ has a middle-eastern feel with some outstanding playing by both participants.( lithiq Inc. )
Yuri Zbitnoff pops up again in another duo, this time joining forces with fellow Xixxo member Core Redonnet (zither, loops/electronics) to create Skysaw, whose self-titled debut features some heavy improvised music with the zither producing some incredible sounds. Over 70 minutes and four tracks, the players go straight for the jugular creating dense walls of sound overlaid with fidgety electronic percussion and benefiting from the violin playing of Jonathan LaMasters, which adds further nuances to the complexity of the music. (Lithiq Inc. P.O. box 960399 Boston MA 02196-0399. www.lithiq.com )
Just released on Nasomi Records, we have the wonderfully named Polytoxicomane Philharmonie whose first album is a psychedelic romp through space rock territories featuring swirling keyboard, gently understated brass, some beautifully fluid guitar and a host of effects. ‘Flight 858’ is a gorgeous trip into outer space with a festival vibe and a hint of stoned reggae bass lines helping it’s journey through the cosmos. Sounding not unlike The Smell Of Incense, the album demonstrate an ear for melody , the arrangements adding to the laid back groove as we drift downstream smiling happily. The band have been around in one form or another since the late eighties so it’s good to see their perseverance paid off, producing a charming psychedelic artefact with great packaging and good times written all over it. (Nasomi Records www.nasoni-records.com)
Floating down the same river we have the guitar dominated space-rock of Mater Dronic whose self-produced album ‘Mundo Espectro’ is a masterpiece of fretboard theatrics sounding like Bevis Frond jamming with Sundial somewhere in hyper-space.
Main songwriter and band leader Jose Carlos Sisto has got to be one of the finest undiscovered heavy-psych guitarist around, his fingers reaching parts other players are still looking for. With two tracks reaching the twenty-minute mark there is plenty of room for improvisation and full-on rock god hysteria, whilst the shorter enable the band to offer some delicate touches especially on the beautiful ‘Mascaras De Cielo’. Limited to a thousand copies, this is obviously a labour of love, and you should love it too. (jotacsisto@latinmail.com)
Ion Quest play spacey instrumental music of high quality sounding like a funky Ozric Tentacles on their self-titled debut album, which offers a loose summer groove which reminds me of osibisa or a laid-back Santana and is the perfect companion to a lazy summers day spent in the garden. ‘Gunk’ has some nice jazz touches and a lightness of delivery which adds plenty to the overall feel, whilst ‘Peanut butter’ is a west-coast delight with some fine saxophone weaving it’s way around the song’s structure. ( www.oierecordsltd.com ).
Finally for this edition of the on-line rumbles, I will hand you over to our final contributor of this issue, a regular visitor to the forum, and the owner of a damn fine website (http://homepages.tesco.net/~beautiful.day/) welcome to rumbles, Simon Allen.
Sundaram’s self-released seven-track demo CDR takes dreamy pastoral flute and sitar-laced acoustic folk with a feel not dissimilar to the instrumentals from “Bryter Layter” and blends it with a laid-back take on the Canterbury-scene jazz-fusion sound. Care free as an English meadow bathed in mid-summer sunshine and as blissful as meditation on banks of the river Ganges, this collection of songs is a decidedly promising showcase of the talents of sometime Alasdair Roberts, Will Oldham and Kitchen Cynics collaborator Philip Johnston. (http://www.sundaramusic.com/, philipjamesjohnston@hotmail.com)
Despite the somewhat gloomy lyrical themes of relationship break-ups, death, loneliness and confusion, musically speaking this third Grayson Wray album “Tales of Mystery and Loneliness” is a decidedly upbeat affair. Sweeping strings, retro 60’s guitar styling, and a grooving hippie diva trace a lineage between late period Beatles and Crowded House via 70’s power-pop. Feel-good, hook-laden and very grown-up rock music. (Lavender Sky Records, www.graysonwray.com, wraytacoma@yahoo.com)
Sometime Spiritualised and Julian Cope collaborator Thighpaulsandra’s latest offering “Double Vulgar 2” delivers jazz-heavy Krautrock-influenced electronic space-psych madness. Dark, cosmic soundscapes are inhabited by vibes, skittering percussion, scuzzy synths, gibbering and squealing robotronics, with the ensuing rhythmic mechanical chaos seemingly driven by the ghosts of Coltrane and Sun Ra. Launching this trip into a schizophrenic parallel universe is a random two-way exchange of psychobabble between our front man-come sky pilot and his passenger that degenerates into a twisted operatic nightmare. In keeping with the title of “Double Vulgar 2” the album is housed in uncompromising homoerotic artwork that no doubt will shock most that see it. Vulgar this hallucinatory opus isn’t, “double plus good” it certainly is. (Beta-lactam Ring Records, www.blrrecords.com, blrr@blrrecords.com)
Out of the anguish of the recent break-up of The Wind-Up Bird’s main-man Joseph Grimm’s long-term relationship comes “Whips”, a majestic instrumental post-rock soundtrack of symphonic proportions. Rich layers of mournful violin strings, trumpet, trombone, shimmering guitars and electronics construct dense evolving drones of emotive beauty. The album’s centrepiece is the electronic subversion of a telephone answer machine recording of Grimm’s ex-girlfriend whose words are twisted beyond recognition to a chilling demonic howl that echoes her apology “sorry that I’ve become this monster…I love you a lot”, that also forms the basis of the album track titles. (Surefire Distribution/The Music Fellowship, www.surefiredistribution.com, surefire@surefiredistribution.com, www.thewindupbird.com, thewindupbird@translucence.net)
Warm introspective guitar and piano passages backed with analogue synthesizer washes typify 1 Mile North’s three opening contributions that form the “Conduction” suite of this third edition of the Music Fellowship’s Triptych Series “Conduction. Convection. Radiation.” Colophon deliver expansive drones, distant and fractured ambient passages that gently crackle with static and hiss on the “Convection” suite, whilst The Wind-Up Bird bring their emotive and haunting ambient symphonies, that are electronically woven from violins, trumpets, bells and guitar into shimmering oscillations, to conclude the album with their “Radiation” suite. (Surefire Distribution/The Music Fellowship, www.surefiredistribution.com, surefire@surefiredistribution.com)