Zombie Zombie

A Land For Renegades

This is the debut full-length release from Paris' Zombie Zombie. This project is lead by two people, Etienne Jaumet and Cosmicneman (from Herman Dune) using sound and rhythm to explore the feeling of fear growing deep inside of you. Listening to their music, you will go through different emotional stages, especially when they play with the analog effects of instruments like the Theremin, keyboards, or space echo tape-delay pedal. Also, the provocative drumming and the screams will make your heart beat faster, like in a horror movie -- when your car won't start, and someone's trying to kill you. These are the types of feelings this duo try to reproduce in their music, also inspired by horror movie soundtracks from George Romero, John Carpenter, and music from bands like Goblin, Suicide, Raymond Scott, Silver Apples or Can. After their first 12" release on the Parisian record label Boombomtchak Records, this album was recorded and mixed by Antoine Gaillet in their research lab, in the Paris heat of August 2006. They also invited extra musicians such as guitar players from the bands Turzi, Herman Dune and Friction. Since then, they've been playing in small clubs in Europe, and also music festivals with big names like Jean Jacques Perrey, The Chap, ESG, James Chance and Sonic Boom.

Dadamah

This Is Not a Dream is a collection of every song ever released by the Dunedin, New Zealand quartet Dadamah. kranky compiled tracks from two seven inch singles, a compilation single and one LP, placed them on compact disc and released the finished product as our second ever release in 1994. Like every group in New Zealand, the members of Dadamah had links to a number of other bands; drummer Peter Stapleton played in The Terminals, Vacuum and The Victor Dimisich Band guitarist Roy Montgomery played in The Pin Group (whose single was the first ever release on the Flying Nun label). Singer Kim Pieters and organ/synth player Janine Stagg were, apparently, the only two people in New Zealand who had never been in a band.

Dadamah only played out three times, devoting the majority of their efforts to recording on four track. At the time the group was active, the underground experimentation of the Xpressway label garnered a number of fans outside the two islands and a Dadamah track ended up on a compilation seven inch Drag City released in 1991 called I Hear The Devil Calling Me.

Snowman

One listen to The Horse, The Rat And The Swan makes itmore than evident that this is a far from ordinary album.There is a ferocious urgency here, a dark energy at play,almost to the point of obsession or mania. This is a workevidently expunged from the band's collective psyche...extracted whole, writhing and coated in a primordial slime.It's the sound of the band desperately capturing their ideasas if they fear they may escape them, as if they fear theywill never have this opportunity to seize and encapsulatethis moment again.
This is a record that expects you to engage, make an effortand stop being a passive recipient. Yes it's a busy world andfinding time to pay attention, unravel, unfold, reveal andcomprehend is difficult for all of us, but not everythingshould be pre-processed and pre-masticated for ourconvenience, should it?
Snowman have travelled some distance since their self-titleddebut album two years back. Along the way there have beensweat stained, sold out gigs, $500 videos, inferences onPitchfork that they are Australia's greatest band, WAMIAwards and kind words but all of this is now flotsam,floating in the wake of The Horse, The Rat And The Swan.
This is a ground zero moment. There is a flow here, a longhidden path to be uncovered, running through the album'sdense, overgrown vegetation.
We Are The Plague sounds like a final message picked upon the scanners of a post-apocalyptic, galactic battleship...Daniel Was A Timebomb careens on a fucked up rockabillyriff that reminds us that this is now an ancient music of adesperate, disenfranchised underclass... A Rebirth andShe Is Turning In To You are exactly what they say,transfigurations, the sound of a band mutating, breakingout of its chrysalis and taking on a new form... The Horse(Parts 1 and 2) is pure ritual; possessed and frenzied,(say hello to Mr Conrad again, deep in the heart of hisdarkness and wondering if the apocalypse is now or laterin the week)... Diamond Wounds sees Snowman finallyemerge, dwarfed by their own imposing (and dare we sayprogressive) sonic architecture, into a cavernous underworldof their own creation.

Mom

Meet mom, a duo from Texas, consisting of a guy playing an acoustic guitar and a cello and a guy that enjoys playing the violin. Both of these gentlemen also make use of some small-time gadgets and electronica. Their ep Little Brite is a pleasant surprise coming out of the DFW!

Fabulous Diamonds

Adorably known to friends and family in Australia as Jarrod and Nisa, The Fabulous Diamonds' beguiling truck is a mesmerizing mix of synth, dub, and percussion, woven around honey-ache vocal stylings recalling (in spirit) past Aussie noisemakers Scattered Order or Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, as well as those of Augustus Pablo, Young Marble Giants, and Suicide. . Their one previous release was a 7-inch co-released by Nervous Jerk and Misteltone, and it garnered praise from the Blogosphere and a smattering of airplay on discerning freeform radio stations around the US. This LP on Siltbreeze has been in the works for the better part of a year; its release coincides their first American tour (along with Siltbreeze labelmates, Psychedelic Horseshit).

Yura Yura Teikoku

A uniquely Japanese hybrid of Jimi Hendrix, Les Rallizes DesNudes, the Velvet Underground, 60's Japanese pop and the 13th Floor Elevators.
Yura Yura Teikoku started as a four piece in 1989. They were fixtures in Tokyo's underground psychedelic scene - they played at the legendary hole-in-the-wall UFO CLUB in Koenji and appeared on premier Japanese psych label PSF's "Tokyo Flashback" compilations. They released a demo cassette and two CDs on their own Jigoku (Hell) label and eventually signed to Captain Trip records, for which they recorded a proper album and a live CD. Their early material was proggy, heavy-psych with lots of dueling guitar solos and bombastic drumwork. Friends who attended shows of this era recall being frightened by singer Sakamoto Shintaro, who at the time shaved off his eyebrows and wore his waist-long hair parted down the middle, traditional Japanese ghost-style. Their fan's devotion was a sign of things to come -- many audience members mimicked Sakamoto and shaved off their own eyebrows. Yura Yura Teikoku were good - Kamekawa Chiyo's hypnotic basslines and Sakamoto's piercing voice distinguished the band from their peers - but material from the early years pales in comparison to their later masterpieces.
In 1992 their second guitar player left and the band went through a succession of drummers. In 1997 current drummer Shibata Ichiro joined the group and the ecstatic psych-pop sound for which Yura Yura Teikoku would become famous was born. In 1998 Tokyo's MIDI Records released the three-piece's first major album, 333. Every music magazine in the country lavished the record with praise and their fan base exploded overnight. Yura Yura Teikoku songs popped up in karaoke booths and their shows were swamped with worshipping fans. Since 1999, getting tickets to one of their performances has been near impossible - shows sell out in a matter of minutes. What happened?
Yura Yura Teikoku are the first and only Japanese underground psychedelic rock group to have achieved "overground" success. Yura Yura Teikoku look and sound like no other band in Japan, and their widespread popularity strikes most followers of underground psychedelic music as just plain...weird. For me, what's really weird is that they've followed their masterpiece 333 with four albums of equal brilliance, inspiration and growth. They've become more experimental with each album yet continue to attract more fans.
Well if they're so good, you might be wondering, why haven't I heard about them? I've got a million Fushitsusha records, I've got my Boredoms and my Cornelius records, I even scored some Tomokawa Kazuki CDs off the Forced Exposure website, but why haven't I ever seen a Yura Yura Teikoku record in America? My response -- I HAVE NO IDEA! Yura Yura Teikoku has been criminally overlooked outside Japan.

Lost and Found Video Night #4

I stumbled upon these Lost & Found Videos and I feel i should share some of them with you.

Volume #4 is the All Music Edition and its got some hits and misses. My favorite part is the David Lee Roth scene. HaHa! I just imagine being at some of these incredible shows that are featured on this compilation of lost gems. Enjoy!

1. Bikini clad beach Go Go girls
2. Jordache commercial
3. Bridget Bardot sings Contact
4. the band Kiss in a Japanese TV commercial
5. Barbeque Killers perform
5. Dusty Springfield Live from the TV show Dusty
6. Hot Butters' Popcorn
7. The Tams perform What Kind of Fool Do You Think I am?
8. The Butthole Surfers perform on the Scott and Gary Show, 1984
9. Tom Jones performs Show Me, 1968
10. The Cramps perform at a Mental Institution
11. Marianne Faithful sings
12. The Yeti song
13. Night Flight featuring The Residents
14. A drunken David Lee Roth insults The Clash
15. The Cash Crew: early 80's rap video
16. Bill Hicks and the Rainbows
17. Throbbing Gristle, Live!
18. Scott Walker performs "Matilda"
19. Joy Division on British television
20. Hall and Oats perform "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"
21. Zacherley costume dance party
22. The Small Faces
23. The Dramatics perform on Darktown Strutters
24. Black Sabbath
25. The Kids of Whitney High
26. Jane Berkin and Serge Gainsbourg perform Melody Nelson
27. Popol Vuh, Krautrock
28. The Monks perform on German TV
29. Alice Cooper
30. Anna Karina from Anna
31. Tony Clifton performs with Dinah Shore
32. B-52's on Saturday Night Live
33. Liberache and Debbie Reynolds perform a song from Annie
34. Ornette Coleman on Saturday Night Live
35. Pink Floyd with Syd Barett, Live!

Running Time: 1 hr. 30 min.

Silence is Better

I made a mix again.

Silence is Better

· Voice of the Seven Woods – Solitary Breathing
· Mythical Beast – Maria Sabina
· Avey Tare – I’m your eagle kisser
· Svarte Greiner – Kobbergruve Endelig Jeg Fant
· Diamond Vampires – Forever
· Padded Cell – Are you anywhere?
· Ricardo Tobar – El Sunset
· Prince Paul – I Want You (I’m an 80’s Man)
· Harvey Milk – After all I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me
· Crystal Antlers – Parting Song for the Torn Sky
· The Child Ballads – Cheekbone Hollows
· White Denim –
· Girls - Hellhole Ratrace
· Eden Express – Ocean Samba (Tristeza)
· Tindersticks – The other side of the world
· Bersarin Quartett – St. Petersburg

Padded Cell

Richard Sen And Neil Higgins's Padded Cell has been the focus of growing speculation of late. After achieving individual notoriety as a Bronx Dog (Heavenly) and a Dirty Beatnik (Wall of Sound) respectively, their triptych of 12" releases for DC Recordings - 2005's "Signal Failure" (DCR64), 2006's "Are You Anywhere?" (DCR67), and 2007's "Moon Menace" (DCR76) - has left nocturnal creatures everywhere drooling with desire for a full length glimpse into the shadowy depths of the Padded Cell. Finally it is here! Drawing inspiration from bands as diverse as Goblin, The Velvet Underground, Arthur Russell, Material, Bush Tetras, and Carl Craig, this duo's analogue fetishism is tinged with creeping psychosis but makes for a sound that is as soulful and emotional as it is dark and narcotic. The making of "Night Must Fall" has involved a list of collaborators that hints at this rich diversity: Dennis Young (Liquid Liquid) plays percussion and marimba, Chloe Battant from London punk funk band Battant (Kill The Dj) delivers vocals; guitars and synths come from sonic necromancer Giallos Flame (Analogue Screams / DC Recordings), and Italian producers The Diaphanoids (Bearfunk) deliver strings, synths and vocals. With careers as prolific club deejays and live performers that have spanned almost two decades (not to mention remixing the likes of The Glimmer Twins, Mekon, Sly Mongoose and Big Two Hundred), it follows that these mind-bending elements have been forced through dance floor focused channels, creating the nefarious 'devils-disco' brew for which this pair have become notorious. From the 80's New York style electro funk of forthcoming single "Savage Skulls" to the John Carpenter-esque soundtrack of "City Of Lies" and the new-wave pop-noir of "Word Of Mouth", this is a journey into dance music's darkest depths that will possess listeners of all persuasions.

Father's Children

It's hard to believe that an album Wayne Henderson produced could be a total flop commercially. But then again, worthwhile albums fall through the cracks all the time. That's exactly what happened with this self-titled debut album by Father's Children, a little known L.A. band that Henderson produced in 1979. The music on this out of print LP is essentially soul and funk, but with jazz overtones -- and, occasionally, Father's Children incorporates elements of reggae and Afro-Caribbean music. Think of the jazzier funk of the 1970s, and you will know where the eight-man band is coming from on tracks like "You Can Get It," "Dance Do It," and "Shine On." Pleasure, the Blackbyrds, and Karma are valid comparisons, and one can also hear similarities between Father's Children and some of the more jazz-influenced offerings of the Ohio Players and the pre-J.T. Taylor Kool & the Gang. Father's Children also hints at Side Effect on some of the songs, which isn't surprising because Side Effect leader Augie Johnson serves as a co-producer and background vocalist. Some of the material is excellent, and some of it is merely decent -- this LP isn't perfect, although Father's Children deserves credit for taking chances. One hears a lot of potential on this record, but, regrettably, the band's first album also turned out to be its last. ~ Alex Henderson,

Berarin Quartett

With some albums, you realize within a few seconds that here you have come across something really special. It is music that touches you straight away. Music that is important, that has a story to tell – and that manages to do so without even a single line of lyrics.
The debut album by the Bersarin Quartett is one of these albums.
Wonderful orchestral pieces full of longing and melancholy. It is that certain kind of melancholy that seizes you when you are moved while following the final credits of an emotionally touching movie, remembering special moments that have faded in the course of many years and linger hazily in your memory, when you are somewhat wistfully contemplating old, worn photographs from days passed by…not a feeling of failure or hopelessness, but a bittersweet reflection.
Time and evanescence. This is the matching soundtrack.
Orchestral cinemascope sounds provide the emotionally moving fundament, wrap the tracks up in a warm coating. Graceful strings pile up, creating big moments and repeatedly ending in melodies that are simply heart-rending, cinematic and tragic. But the Bersarin Quartett does not merely rely on these ingredients. The songs are also repeatedly interspersed with suspenseful and surprising elements, be it frail electronica, hypnotic soundscapes, drums or reverbed guitars. Rarely has a melange sounded as convincing and natural as this, and rarely has it sounded so well produced.
Thomas himself calls his music “imaginary fictional filmscores“. And it is hardly possible to come up with a more apt term. 10 tracks for 10 movies that have yet to be shot. Music that radiates such an enormous and authentic passion in every single minute, that one can’t help but completely abandon oneself to it. And honestly: Can there be anything more wonderful that can be achieved through music?

Landslide!

Landslide! is something I am involved with and if your in Los Angeles next weekend you should attend. There will be lots of good music,food,art,films,and a view of L.A. that will blow you away.

White Denim

Exposion is the title of White Denim's first full length U.S. studio album.The debut record was first sold at live shows during their spring 2008 tour with Tapes 'n Tapes. The LP was distributed as an unlabeled CD-R in a paper wrapping, along with the title 11 Songs printed on the front. This "Tour LP" has finally been pressed onto 7" vinyls, and it is slated to be released before the summer of 2008 and before the release of their European debut LP, Workout Holiday. Exposion features many songs from previous releases, but most have been re-worked and re-recorded. The new album will be self-released much like the Let's Talk About EP (on vinyl and digital format only), with the band reporting that "CDs seem pretty worthless to us".

Droids

70s electro pop from The Droids -- a very cool combo who definitely live up to their name! Most of the tracks here are spare and electronic -- grooves definitely in the Kraftwerk side of the spectrum, but a bit more catchy and tuneful too -- although still never any sort of mainstream pop। Some cuts have very cool analogue electronic touches -- weird noises and sounds that bubble and bristle in between the more upbeat moments -- all making for a well-developed album with a surprising amount of depth!

2562

Over a succession of rhythm melting vinyl releases for Tectonic, SubSolo and Philpot, Dave Huismans has asserted himself as the leading practitioner of forward thinking dancefloor motions currently in operation. Under the' Dogdaze, A Made Up Sound and his revered 2562 moniker Huismans has shocked the now merged techno and dubstep fraternities with a brilliantly consistent stream of bare bones riddims encompassing brittle 2-step, lurching techno and bass driven dub with a fractured brokenbeat aesthetic that sounds quite unlike anything else being produced today. Aerial is Huismans' massively anticipated debut album and contains some of the most deadly material produced under his 2562 guise, formed into a coherent statement of ten tracks set to detonate headphoness and Soundsystems around the world this summer. This CD edition pulls together four tracks previously dispatched over the course of three individual 12"s released in the last year, plus six sparkling fresh productions primed to dub the world into submission. The set skanks into view with 'Redux' plumbing the depths of a breezing downtempo dub cut in the finest Rhythm & Sound styles, and clearing the airspace for the snaking syncopations of 'Morvern'. From here there's a run of tracks culled from recent releases, ready to educate unblessed ears with some bass stepping sanctification, but the real treats for those who've been paying close attention come in the form of the stunning 'Basin dub' composed from delicate blue chords and a double-timed rhythmic intuition that couldn't have come from anyone else, followed by the equally crushing 'Greyscale', realisng many a technoXdubstep nerd's wet dream with a sacred stylistic blend of Burial, Basic Channel and T++ that leaves us floored. Finally another new effort 'The times' signs off the album with some moody and expansive dub chords whipped into spectral plumes over a coma-slow riddim that brings us full circle and ready for repeat. This album follows in the massively revered tradition of dub experimentation and rhythm science laid down in the lineage stretching from Lee Perry through King Tubby, Scientist, Steve Gurley, Dillinja, Photek, Rhythm & Sound, Kode 9 and Burial, so all we can say is that if any of those names have remotely affected you in any way you really need to check this album out. Without doubt one of the albums of the year - absolutely mighty.

Brian Eno

by Thom Jurek
Finally bored with ambient music, a genre he pioneered in the 1970s, pop polymath Brian Eno emerged with Another Day on Earth, his first solo recording of "conventional" songs since Another Green World. From the rhythm track of opening song "This," the sound is unmistakable. A quirky hook covered in layers of atmosphere and a bouncy loop, it's a smart little tune with additional guitars by Leo Abrahams. Lyrically, Eno's process is poetic, employing not only his own strategies, but a computer generating words as well. At three-and-a-half minutes, it's a fine pop song, albeit one that would never get played on the radio. "And Then So Clear" is more evocative of Eno's work with Daniel Lanois, utilizing a very simple loop adorned with sparse guitars while keyboards pulse softly as a completely treated human voice paints a landscape both exterior and interior. "A Long Way Down," is pure mood, a tense, taut mood offered by electric piano, spectral keyboards imitating strings, and the layered guitars of Steve Jones and Abrahams. Eno multi-tracks his voice across the angular melody, and it slips and falls out more than it flows. And that's a basic problem with Another Day on Earth. Once again, despite trying to work with song forms and structures, they feel tossed off, half-baked. "Going Unconscious" isn't so much a song as an ambient soundscape with spoken word accompaniment by Inge Zalaliene. "Bone Bomb" is the same. "Under" feels like a demo rhythm track with a lyric draped loosely over it. But there are some fine moments too, such as "Passing Over" with Jones guitar cruising over the tune like a spaceship and Eno's sung lines intersecting at (mostly) just the right moments. "How Many Worlds" is almost a child's ditty full of existential questions. Another Day on Earth is a re-entry for Eno, who has the tremendous pressure of always trying to do something new. Nothing here feels new, but so what? If lightweight, it is often pleasant and amusing, if not utterly engaging. Fans will want to seek it out to see what the brainy one has been up to, but those just coming around should go to the back catalog first.

Crystal Stilts

After the first-ever Crystal Stilts show in December 2003, Hamish Kilgour of New Zealand band the Clean approached them and said: "You guys were fantastic, the most interesting of the night — it reminded me of when I went to England in '83 and bought the first Jesus & Mary Chain single." Could there possibly be a better start to a career? As Stilts bassist Andy Adler announced, after sharing the anecdote when we met the band, "it's all downhill from there." Having endured a Job-like start to 2008 (all of their gear stolen — wait, make that impounded), just a few weeks ago the Stilts were confronting whether they should even continue being a band, a notion all the more absurd after you listen to these seven songs — the bulk of the Brooklyn foursome's recordings to date. Sure, Hamish probably overstated it a bit — who knows, though, we weren't there — but there is something in these dingy recordings of minimalist post-punk pop that supersedes pretty much everything else we have heard in a long, long time. The two best songs are "Crippled Croon" and "Converging in the Quiet," their sullen, confident melodies shining brightest, their fidelity sounding the most like something post-Edison in the history of recorded sound. "Crippled Croon" is mush-mouthed and loose, an upper-register guitar line recalling everything great about Echo and the Bunnymen, early Cure and that whole bag, with Brad Hargett's vocals slackadaisical to a ridiculous — and endearing — degree. "Converging" is the better-written song, the little post-chorus instrumental bit really nice and cinematic, the whole thing extremely well put-together in a way that — and we say this with love and affection — some of their other songs are not. "Converging" strikingly intersects Hargett's buried-alive vocals, JB Townsend's shrugging guitars and Adler's gesturing bass in some awesome heroin-spike harmony. Though it didn't start out as such, it's now by far my favorite Crystal Stilts moment. There are others, too, including the really rough demo for "Through the Floor" that we drunkenly convinced the band to include (thanks guys!). Somehow, the rougher-sounding the better with these kids, and in a way that goes beyond the whole warehouses & lofts & sirens & streets & broken windows & peeling walls Brooklyn fetish. Farther down 'neath the hipster mythos, reverb topography and the band's rough treatment are amazing songs by four smart and funny people who we couldn't be prouder to support. You're gonna love this.

emusic review

DeepChord

Certainly the most anticipated release from Rod Modell's Deepchord project, this incredible package also marks the debut emission from the Echospace imprint, a label curated and steered by Modell in conjunction with Soultek's Steve Hitchell (Hitchell and Modell are also writing together under the Echospace moniker, with their debut efforts included here with 4 tracks and soon due for an appearance on the Modern Love imprint for a series of twelves). Apart from the fact that this album has taken several months to painstakingly put together, and the fact that it is limited to a measly 1000 copies worldwide), "Vantage Isle" also boasts a rare remix effort from Convextion, three new Deepchord mixes and five versions from Echospace - there are 13 tracks here beautifully mastered in Detroit by the legendary Ron Murphy and handpackaged by the Echospace crew with all the bespoke attention to detail you might expect from a package of this nature. The music, well, its just vintage Deepchord : kicking off with the mighty DC version of the title track, a lilting Maurizio-style killer that seems to hover over its own percussion with a million shards of space-echo and reverb breaking out of the mix - pure, hazy brilliance. The debut Echospace "Glacial" mix is up next and more or less sums up what this collaborative pairing is all about - a towering wall of fuzz and washes of delay drench the mix in a cascading variation of the primary dub sound-palette, an analogue leviathan that just blew my mind listening to on headphones - mighty, mighty stuff. On to the Convextion mix : and you get just about what you expect - the spacial hemorrhage of the original squashed into a pulsing BASS killer, sparse yet menacing, the chords taking on their own signature sound - deconstructing and re-building itself into something you could only really describe as epic. The Basic Channel continuum once again casts its influence over its legions of drooling followers, with this release finding one of their most sought-after, well-realised transmissions to date. Awesome.

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus is a rock and roll band from Glen Rock. In the beginning, there were only three people in the band. At one point, there were eleven people in the band. Today, there are five people in the band. Titus Andronicus take their name from a minor Shakespearean tragedy, not, as many people believe, from some sort of killer robot from the future. Titus Andronicus formed in the spring of 2005. Titus Andronicus' debut long player, "The Airing of Grievances" was released in April of 2008 by Troubleman Unlimited. Titus Andronicus have shared stages with such noted, world-famous luminaries as Matt and Kim, Holy Fuck, Foals, Dr. Dog, Cloud Cult, and Call Me Lightning. Titus Andronicus practice at Ian's house. Titus Andronicus sometimes disagree on what is the right thing to do. Titus Andronicus like to scream and carry on at excessive volume. Titus Andronicus like songs which are fast more than songs which are slow. Titus Andronicus think slow songs are okay sometimes. Titus Andronicus never sing about love, only hate. Titus Andronicus have no hope for the future. Titus Andronicus believe only in nothingness. Everyone in Titus Andronicus was born to die. Titus Andronicus crave your approval but will settle for your utter disdain.

Slow Dancing Society

From the outset The Slow and Steady Winter sets itself up to be an epic. Clocking in at over an hour long and comprising of only eight tracks the album paints its majestic landscapes with both measure and purpose, unfolding a sound that moves from immersive ambient evocations to beatific bliss rock.The Slow and Steady Winter is not concerned with singularity but rather the totality of experience. The album is a gorgeously choreographed chronicle of a Spokane winter from the ice covered fields of ‘The Early Stages of Decline’ to the thawed warm edges of spring in ‘February Sun’. The album serves as a wonderful progression from Slow Dancing Society’s previous work both in sound and mood. In part it presents a much darker vision while still radiating an ineffable sense of humanity and heart.