After bonding over a mutual love for Can, the Grateful Dead, Fela Kuti and Ty Segall, Toronto band Possum have managed to integrate elements of their own musical taste into a mind-blowing combination of psych rock, kraut and garage. Their new album, Space Grade Assembly, is an excellent example of how the band can take their influences and create unique and dynamic sounds.
From the onset, the album is vibrant and energetic; “The Hills” and “The Hills Part 2” are psychedelic and engaging without being too overbearing or heavy. Each wailing guitar solo leads the song into new unexplored grooves, infusing elements of Afrobeat and psych rock, similar to the sound you might find on a King Gizzard or Ty Segall record.
While Possum certainly know how deliver…

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…experimental tunes, they still possess the ability to craft more moderate and tight-knit jams. “Ice Cream” is a tad slower than the rest of the album, but with its vocals dripping in reverb, crooning over the distortion and fuzz, the song undeniably fits well within the arrangement.

As the band delves into realms of garage-infused psychedelia, they continue to emerge with newfound rhythms and grooves to keep the sound fresh and invigorating. Each song is wet with effects, with Possum navigating the surf with confidence, experimenting with what they can achieve and just how far they can do it.

As a genuine vanguard of electronic music composition at the forefront of the modular synthesiser revolution in the late 1960s, Suzanne Ciani’s forward-thinking approach to new music would rarely look to the past for inspiration, which makes this unheard composition from 1969 a rare exception to the collective futurist vision of Ciani and synthesiser designer Don Buchla. In choosing to adapt the controversial prose of French poet Charles Baudelaire, Suzanne would join the ranks of ongoing generations of pioneering musicians like Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Serge Gainsbourg, Etron Fou Leloublan, Celtic Frost and Marc Almond (not forgetting Star Trek’s William Shatner!), all equally inspired by the 19th century writer’s works of “modernité”…

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…(modernity), a self-coined term dedicated to capturing the eeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, best exempli ed in his symbolic, erotic and macabre ode to Parisian industrialisation, Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of Evil).

In her varied career that would combine art gallery installations, major lm soundtrackings and commissions for Atari, Suzanne Ciani’s earliest experiments remain some of her most challenging, beguiling and timeless… Flowers of Evil ticks all the above boxes and icks switches that would power-up a new uncharted universe of her own musical modernité. For the many enthusiasts that have already drawn the parallels between Baudelaire’s writings and experimental/ electronic music (a relationship rivalled only by the likes of J. G. Ballard and Aldous Huxley) some might instantly recognise an unconscious sistership between this recording and another 1969 electronic adaptation of Flowers Of Evil by celebrated female electronic composer Ruth White. An interesting distinction of White’s excellent version of Flowers Of Evil (released via Limelight records, home to the likes of Fifty Foot Hose and Paul Bley) is that its dark tone generation and vocal manipulation was created with a Moog synthesiser, the commercially triumphant rival to Suzanne and Don’s Buchla Systems (Buchla and Moog’s historic, simultaneous, neck-and-neck synth developments are well documented.) The fact that Ciani’s version was never intended for commercial release (not unlike her 1975 Buchla concerts, which could easily have taken Morton Subotnick’s Bull by the horns!) is also poetically re ective of the nature of Ciani and Buchla’s alternative perspective. The choice to present this extract from Flowers Of Evil in its intended French language further distances Ciani’s faithful reaction from some of its better-known variations. Having attempted to voice the poem herself, the multilingual Italian-American composer’s French accent did not meet her own standards, resulting in the request for a fellow unnamed French student who lived on campus at Mills College in Oakland to accurately verbalise the section of Baudelaire’s collection entitled Élévation. — finderskeepersrecords.bandcamp.com

Hollywood Vampires may be a supergroup, but their self-titled 2015 debut album was essentially a souped-up showcase for frontman Alice Cooper. Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Johnny Depp, and the band provided a hard-rocking foundation for Cooper to pay tribute to what he called his “dead, drunk friends” with covers of the Who, John Lennon, and Jimi Hendrix, among others — all with his typically vaudevillian panache. They recorded a couple of originals for the record but more or less stuck to crowd pleasers like “Whole Lotta Love” and left space for famous friends like Paul McCartney and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson to chip in.
For their second LP, Rise, they inverted the paradigm and recorded mostly originals with only a few covers, and it’s only now that it sounds…

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…like a band finding its footing. The band’s MVP is still Cooper, who yuks it up about wanting a “diamond selfie stick” on the hard-rocking, seven-minute opener “I Want My Now” and remains the only vocalist alive who can sing a line like “Darkness, for me, is all I know” convincingly on a track called “Mr. Spider.” He flexes his sense of dark humor on the rockabilly boogie-woogie number “Welcome to Bushwackers,” which features John Waters and Jeff Beck, as he brags, “Girls used to jump on me when I was 23, still do/That’s right, I repeat, they still do.” He’s hilarious and confident even when some of his bandmates are experiencing growing pains.

Oddly, some of the weaker moments here are the covers. Depp’s turn at the mic, for a rendition of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” is understated (though, truth be told, no one can do Bowie’s performance on that song justice) and Perry’s vocal for a rendition of Johnny Thunders’ “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” is anemic. Neither would be as glaring if they weren’t next to performances by Cooper, who, at 71, sounds as though he’s sipping blood from the fountain of youth. (The exception here is Depp’s punky take on the Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died,” which captures the spirit of the first Vampires LP).

Despite the rocky vocal performances, Depp and Perry make up for their shortcomings on the guitar. “The Boogieman Surprise” has a woozy, sea-sickening riffs that give way to a big Cooper chorus, and “New Threat” is all blues-rock swagger with the sort of solo that harks back to Aerosmith’s Seventies peak. The mix of songs is a little uneven (closing track “Congratulations” is a bizarre slam poem recited by Cooper, Depp, and Perry) but Rise shows where the band’s three stars’ personalities unite in a Venn diagram and work together well. It’s just that these Vampires sound best when they’re sharing the same blood source.

The music world needs lifers like Kevn Kinney. As both a solo artist and the longtime frontman for Drivin’ N Cryin’, the 58-year-old singer/songwriter has been grinding out tunes and putting miles on his body and soul for the better part of four decades, with all the accompanying highs and lows that come with that toil.
All that effort and time hasn’t diminished Kinney’s sharp way with words nor his preternatural ability to craft the perfect rock tune. That’s as clear as ever on Live the Love Beautiful, the first full-length from Drivin’ N Cryin’ in 10 years. Produced by the equally talented Aaron Lee Tasjan and featuring guitar work from former Sturgill Simpson sideman Laur Joamets, the record is held to earth by the weight of classic-sounding melodies…

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…and Kinney’s unflinchingly poignant and unromantic lyrics. Along the way, the band, which still features founding bassist Tim Nielsen, cements their signature sound that embraces pure psychedelia, Southern rock, R&B, and glistening pop.

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…Live the Love Beautiful sounds like Drivin N Cryin. There’s no pivot to a new sound, nor a renunciation of the previous work. But it also reflects a mature band considering the past, even as it continues to make new music.

That means we get to enjoy songs like “Over and Over,” which begins with Kinney buying one of his old records and realizing he had been in love for one of its songs. The rest of the surprisingly poppy tune is about missing being in love. It’s a solid, catchy song, but the lyrics grab you, because it’s not often we get to hear musicians reflect on their work within new work. It’s not navel-gazing or even sad. Instead, Kinney is showing us what it feels like to hear an old song and to go back to how he felt when he wrote it. It’s not a universal feeling — not by a long shot — which is what makes it such a cool, interesting track.

Drivin N Cryin are probably best known for a country-esque sound, and while Live the Love Beautiful, produced by Aaron Lee Tasjan, has subtle echoes of country, there’s also lots of more overt rock, both hard and ’80s indie. All of the different sounds exist together cohesively on the album. You have tracks like “Spies,” which is a little more punk rock than you might expect, and which even has a rocking ’80s glam-rock guitar solo, existing next to songs like “Free Ain’t Free,” which sounds like Tom Petty fronting Drive-by Truckers. Kinney might be the only person who completely understands the thread holding the album together, but the different styles keep the album feeling fresh.

The record’s most interesting song is “Ian McLagan,” an ode to the Faces/Small Faces keyboardist of the same name. It’s acoustic, with elements of folk, country, Americana, and ’90s indie rock. The lyrics are either a sweet tribute or a psychotic obsession. Luckily, the intent doesn’t take away from the charm: “Some people / They do one thing / They talk about it all of their lives / But Ian McLagan keeps doing / It’s what keeps him alive.” The song concludes with some rollicking piano, yet another tribute to the man who gave their song a title.

Live the Love Beautiful shows why it’s important not just for artists to continue making music, but also for fans to hear what is said and sung. Drivin N Cryin now have a depth that, while different from their early work, is still connected to it. — NoDepression

Recording imprint Mushroom Hour Half Hour have announced the latest record to come out of their experimental sound lab, situated in South Africa’s Johannesburg. SPAZA is “a band with no permanent personnel, with each line-up assembled for the express purpose of recording improvised or workshopped material.” The tracks making up this eponymous LP are free jams by musicians with individual and collective links to Johannesburg’s jazz, Afro funk and experimental electro scenes.
‘Spaza’ is a word for an informal neighbourhood store, commonplace in South Africa. According to the label, the spaza has come to signify an “entrepreneurial spirit, especially in the country’s black townships where economic barriers to business ownership mean that only…

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…a few can attain the status of formal business ownership”. It is also the name of the gallery in Troyeville where the album was recorded.

The musicians involved in this collaboration include Nosisi Ngakane on vocals and effects, Ariel Zamonsky on upright bass, Siya Makuzeni on vocals, effects and trombone, Gontse Makhene on vocals and percussion, João Orecchia on electronics, and Waldo Alexander playing electronic violin.

“The day was completely magical”, says Ngakane. “The musicians created like we had played with each other for years. The one thing I really enjoy about Mushroom Hour jam session is that there is no expectation to be anything in particular, there is no need for musician to prove their skill in anyway, and there is an unspoken rule that we are here for the music and not ourselves, and that feeling when the music truly guides you is what makes it magical.”

“If composition is the arrangement of energy into cohesive form,” continues Mushroom Hour Half Hour co-founder Nhlanhla Mngadi, “improvisation is trusting the energy to lead, to find and make form in progression. The Spaza is where we coalesce for […] out-jamming the jam we find ourselves in.” — Wire

Flicking through a back catalogue of reviews of Peter Bruntnell albums – and King of Madrid is his tenth – a hefty proportion are seemingly dedicated to dreaming up new ways of insisting that the Devon-based singer-songwriter is British Americana’s best-kept secret, the sub-text of the argument presumably being that only the inexplicably fickle tastes of the record-buying public/international music industry/whichever gods secretly rule the universe of popular music have deprived Bruntnell of the star status he so richly deserves.
To be honest, it’d be tempting to swim against this tide of opinion purely to be able to say something different. But actually, when listening to one of his albums for the first time, as was…

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…the case of this reviewer with ‘King of Madrid’, it quickly becomes blindingly obvious why the critics are so baffled he’s not more widely rated.

From the opening ‘Broken Wing’, which soars so gracefully through a mesh of jangling, pop-flavoured guitars it risks stealing the show from the title track –  and indeed the rest of the album – to the curtain closer, a troubling reflection on the parlous state of British Brexit-obsessed politics called ‘National Museum’, if previously there was near-unanimous agreement that Bruntnell’s usual standard was never less than excellent, he certainly hasn’t dropped the ball on ‘King of Madrid’.

For one thing, Bruntnell’s lyrics are so striking they probably merit a whole review in themselves. ‘Broken Wing’s analysis of a young person trying to escape from a fundamentalist cult, for example, plunges you into the heart of a harrowing mixture of self-doubt and desperate hope, right from the very first line: “I’m going to change my name and start again.” Strengthening the connection between the religious lyrics and music is the inspired (pun fully intended) addition of a mournfully tolling lone church bell on the  synth-led intro. Then the guitars blast in – exhilarating, bleak and hopeful in equal parts – and ‘Broken Wing’ lifts off for good, flying so beautifully it fully belies the song’s own title.

Equally, ‘Memory Hood’ offers some unsettling insight into how getting overly nostalgic can prove self-destructive in the present: “Back before the years slipped down, I pulled the roots from the ground, didn’t know they were holding the town, back from sailing away.”

What gives ‘Memory Hood’ added power – and it’s maybe this ability to fuse lyrics and music so well that allows ‘King of Madrid’ to pack such a punch across the board – are its well-timed changes of pace, reflecting the lyrics’ wayward lurching between the past and the here and now.

These are just two examples, but the truth is track after track goes past on ‘King of Madrid’ and there truly don’t seem to be any low points. It helps greatly that the understated nature of Bruntnell’s voice matches the wry, unpretentious content of the songs so well, even in a composition as romantic with a capital R like ‘King of Madrid’. It’s a gentle, jaunty country-drenched ballad with some touching personal images of the object of his affection:

“Don’t want to breakfast alone, I’m just waiting til you get here, to walk up the steps, with your grown-out roots, lifting your hemline, over your worn-out boots.”

On an album where there are more touches of Americana sounds than full-blown dollops, the title track is where the country resonances are strongest, and for some reason on this track, (and it’s not that we’re complaining) the voice sounds oddly similarly to Jakob Dylan at his hoarse, hauntingly mournful, best.

Everything’s got limits though, and if you’re looking for a raunchy or sensual album ‘King of Madrid’ is probably not for you. Bruntnell is seemingly more interested in exploring the boundary between feelings and thoughts than going into emotional overdrive, and the result is maybe closer in spirit to the Beatles than the Stones – there are distinct echoes of ‘Daytripper’ on ‘Dinosaur’,  for example – more  strong cup of tea in an English garden at five pm than straight-up Bourbon in some boozy New Orleans watering hole at three in the morning. But that doesn’t make ‘King of Madrid’ any less appealing, because from whatever angle you look at it and however you want to put it, this album is in a class of its own.

Funk outfit Adam Scone and the Scone Cash Players riff on the mundane aspects of life — paying bills, big dreams, love, loss and all that — with As the Screw Turns: the screw being pressure, and the funk groove, how we deal with it.
As conceived by organist and bandleader Scone, it’s a soulful, urgent, ten-track affair: play Hammond organ play. Conceptualized while on a Daptone “Super Soul Revue” tour overseas — in the company of Sugarman 3 and the late Sharon Jones — the project carries a summery, Miami chill flavour, and is peppered with Daptone musicians (names like Jason Joshua, John Dokes, Caito Sanchez on drums and Alex Chakour on guitar), topped off with Naomi Shelton lending lead vocals on track “My House Is Small” (But I Dream Big).”

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“The Opportunist” is some throat-clearing soul-gospel; “Canned Champagne” sounds like a track meant for the late Charles Bradley; “They Say It’s Christmas Time” aims for a Motown-Philly feel, but the jury is out whether it will be a holiday standard; and dexterous numbers like “Brass Tacks,” “The Crown Divide” and the frenetic “Bokum Hi” showcase a funk pocket the collective know inside out. As the Screw Turns leaves listeners feeling the pressure but ultimately coming out fresher.

Californian 4-piece Plague Vendor show us how it’s done on their third LP. On their two previous albums they excelled in short, sharp power-punk. The four years since their second album, Bloodsweat, hasn’t resulted in a major change in their sound, however with John Congleton (St.Vincent/Blondie/John Grant) on production duties, and an emphasis on dirty grooves, By Night is pumped-up beast and wastes no time in blasting you with pissy but danceable post-punk chaos.
Lead single “New Comedown”‘s jittery urgency is kept in line with funky basslines and drumming executed with the precision of techno, lead singer Brandon Blaine switching from nonchalant cool in the verse, to hysterically wailing “You put me down / You’re the new comedown”…

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…in the chorus, with buzzing, nagging guitar riffs so fierce they’re like being stabbed repeatedly in the ears. In a good way.

Riffage is another tweak of their sound and By Night is crammed with great ones. The Sonic Youth-gone-metal riffs on “Nothing’s Wrong” are sexy and swaggering, with Blaine screaming “There’s nothing wrong with me / There’s something wrong with you” with pure disgust, while the funk and disco influences on “All of The Above”, with yelps of “Alriiiiight” and jagged slashes of post-punk guitars prove that rage can be as dancey as hell when it’s in the right hands.

It’s not all white knuckle intensity, when they switch to a lighter mode By Night really comes up with the goods. The campy prowl of “Let Me Get High” borrows its sleaze from The Cramps, sexy punk banger “Prism” is everything The Hives wish they could still make, while the ’60s beat group strutting on “Night Sweats” will have you reminiscing about The Strokes’ imperial phase.

Hip-hop also makes an appearance on the anxiety-ridden, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-influenced “Snakeskin Boots”, Blaine impressively moving from punk yelps to convincing rapping: “There in the corner, I’ve been waiting for you there / black bags and clown face just looking for you to stare / moves like Fred Astaire – DAMN!”, the nervous energy suggesting danger, or impending first-time sex.

By Night, apparently named due to the smash and grab nature of late-night studio sessions, is muscular, robust and takes no prisoners. It does its noisy thing swiftly, leaving you feeling shattered and somewhat dazed afterward. A perfect representation of punk rock in 2019, then.

In 1996, Philippe Zdar didn’t know what to do. Motorbass, his ascendant project with his friend and roommate Étienne de Crécy, had dissolved after Crécy packed his things and moved out of their apartment in the Montmartre district of Paris. That same year, they’d released their sole album, Pansoul, regarded today as one of the defining moments of the French house revolution. His downtime didn’t last long. Within months, Zdar linked back up with his old La Funk Mob partner Boom Bass, aka Hubert Blanc-Francard. Having bonded earlier in the decade through their shared love of hip-hop, Zdar and Boom Bass rebranded as Cassius and released their first album, 1999.
Motorbass paved the way, but ultimately it was Cassius who went the distance,…

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…bringing “French touch” to the masses alongside peers like Daft Punk. Twenty years (and one decade-long hiatus) after their debut, a new Cassius record has arrived with a heartbreaking asterisk: It will also be the duo’s final album of his lifetime. Two days before it was to be released, the news broke that Zdar had accidentally fallen through a window in Paris and died. He was 52 years old.

Thus Dreems is a bittersweet homecoming. With their sights locked back onto the dancefloor, Cassius sound reinvigorated. Arranging the record like a cinematic DJ mix, Zdar and Blanc-Francard pare back the kitchen-sink maximalism of their Balearic-tinged concept album Ibifornia. Instead, they adopt a more back-to-basics approach: kick, snare, hat, and bassline take priority.

“Summer” is a wistful opener, cut from the same emotional cloth as the Zdar-produced Phoenix masterpiece “Love Like a Sunset Pt. 1.” The downtempo cruiser “Vedra,” tailor-made for the late-night coastal drive, evaporates into a crispy vocal sample that sets the stage for the album’s first real banger, “Fame.” Throughout Dreems, Cassius make strides to remind us that they could always keep pace with the new breed of producers, many of whom were reared on their work.

“Calliope” is a bass-heavy belter that wouldn’t sound out of place during any peak-hour club set. Elsewhere, returning collaborator John Gourley (of Portugal. The Man) crops up on the ’80s pastiche “Nothing About You,” his otherwise bothersome timbre softened with immaculate double-tracking, while Beastie Boys’ Mike D lends manic energy to “Cause oui!” Cassius balance their guests with poise, manipulating their voices to feel as if they’ve been sampled off some long-forgotten record and rarely allowing the vocals to dominate the mix.

The notable exception is the title track, with its hypnotic dembow rhythm and heartfelt refrain. French singer Owlle is the most prominent guest vocalist on the album, with three separate features, and Cassius give her room for an impeccable performance. “Never before I had someone like you right by my side,” Owlle sighs on the chorus. She and Luke Jenner of the Rapture pair together in an unlikely complement on the hook, singing, “You make me want to dream,” their distinct voices made one within the blend.

The lyric feels like a fitting tribute to Zdar, a man who connected so many threads of dance, indie, and hip-hop to help realize masterpieces that changed countless lives. The day before the album’s release, that much was clear when the producer’s compatriots and admirers around the world openly mourned his death. Those who were close to him shared stories of not only his incredible studio wisdom, but also the love he held for his family and the empathy that he brought to his collaborators, all of whom could earnestly call him a friend. It is an immense tragedy that Zdar didn’t get to witness the release of this album with Boom Bass; the two had been steadfast creative partners ever since they were young studio rats trying to scrape together enough experience to make the music they heard in their heads. Cassius may come to a close, but in Dreems, they offer a worthy capstone for a well-lived life: a celebration of love, an uncynical outburst of the kind of joy that feels rarer to come by with each passing day. — Pitchfork

Zhenya Strigalev & Federico Danneman previously recorded together on Strigalev’s Blues for Maggie (2018), but with the possible exception of that album’s penultimate track ,”Little Struggle,” the fare offered there differed a little from what’s on offer here. The Change unequivocally oozes rock-infused take-no-prisoners jazz. Perhaps the nearest comparison to this band, and this is no hyperbolic comparison, would be Tony Williams’ Lifetime. Ok, it may lack the genius of Larry Young but it’s more than compensated for by Strigalev’s fluidly articulate alto and Dannemann’s dynamite guitar, which at times channels both Jimi Hendrix and John McLaughlin, simultaneously. Dannemann’s Fender Stratocaster undoubtedly has “the tone” that McLaughlin invoked on the debut…

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…Lifetime album, Emergency! (Polydor, 1969), and its successor Turn It Over (Polydor, 1970). This therefore results in totally compulsive listening. The opening track, “Algo Rhythm” is a perfect testament to this intense, high-powered style of fusion, with Dannemann’s bluesy-jazzy guitar licks dominating his self-penned number.

The urgently-paced “Pulse” is vamp-rich with sparring alto and guitar bouncing off the sonorous bass and crackling drums. Strigalev’s sinewy alto predominates on “Boo,” with closing, elegant Hendrixian guitar notes. “Coquille Du Terre,” with its boppy sensibility, springs forward with unison guitar and sax before Dannemann lets rip with his florid guitar solo. “Speed Up” is buoyed by incessantly changing, rapid-fire riffs and an inherently bluesy feel. The slow-burning title track is embellished by Dannemann’s lithe vocals and echoey guitar creating a hypnotic feel. Calvaire’s taut drum foray throughout the ironically titled “Total Silence” is spectacular, as is the insouciant way in which the band later changes from a rock-edged beat to a reggae one. Even Strigalev’s hilarious shout-out of the musician’s names here is endearing. “Pank” is the killer closer, with more unison playing, memorable melody lines and virtuosic soloing all round.

In their inspired recruiting of New York-based Luques Curtis on bass and Obed Calvaire on drums, Russian maestro Strigalev and Argentinian-born guitarist Dannemann have assembled a literally world-class group, but more importantly, a quartet of supremely talented musicians who gel together seamlessly. Strigalev brought the band back to his native Russia to record this album at Dobrolet Studios in Saint Petersburg, and significantly the sonic quality is every bit as good as anything achieved in NYC or London. He and Dannemann have produced an album of consistent fascination, exceptional replay value and very probably a landmark recording too. If “change” means that we should keep changing to progress and grow, this album is the living embodiment of that word. It has taken Strigalev and Dannemann’s musical journey to the next level.

Personnel: Zhenya Strigalev: saxophones, voice; Federico Dannemann: guitar, vocals; Luques Curtis: double bass; Obed Calvaire: drums.

Tangerine Dream was among the “true pioneers of electronic and ambient music, and the albums they recorded for Virgin Records between 1973 and 1979 remain classics of the genre” – so says progressive rocker and remixer extraordinaire, Steven Wilson.  And he should know, as Wilson has been heavily involved in a Tangerine Dream box set that spotlights the era, entitled In Search of Hades: The Virgin Recordings 1973-1979.
In Search of Hades celebrates Tangerine Dream’s boundary-pushing albums Phaedra (1974), Rubycon (1975), the live Ricochet (1975), Stratosfear (1976), the live Encore (1977), Cyclone (1978), and Force Majeure (1979). The gargantuan set features 16 CDs with bonus tracks for every title. A bounty of unreleased material…

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…was also unearthed – 8 CDs’ worth!  This includes two discs of Phaedra outtakes, a 15-minute outtake from Rubycon, and three full live shows from London – Victoria Palace Theatre in 1974, The Rainbow Theatre in 1974 and Royal Albert Hall in 1975, the latter appearing in a new stereo mix with the full introduction by John Peel. Another notable inclusion is the unreleased complete, 75-minute Oedipus Tyrannus soundtrack from July of 1974.

D 1: Phaedra – originally released Virgin LP V 2010, 1974
01 Phaedra
02 Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares
03 Moments of a Visionary
04 Sequent C
Bonus Tracks:
05 Phaedra (Steven Wilson 2018 stereo remix)
06 Sequent C (Steven Wilson 2018 stereo remix).

CD 2: Phaedra Outtakes, Volume 1 – previously unreleased, recorded November 1973
01 2nd Day
02 Flute Organ Piece
03 Phaedra Out-Take version 2A

CD 3: Phaedra Outtakes, Volume 2 – previously unreleased, recorded November 1973
01 Phaedra Outtake 1
02 Phaedra Outtake 2B
03 2nd Side piece 1
04 2nd Side piece 2
05 Organ piece

CD4: Live at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London, June 16, 1974 – previously unreleased
01 The Victoria Palace Concert Part One

CD 5: Live at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London, June 16, 1974 – previously unreleased
01 The Victoria Palace Concert Part Two
02 The Victoria Palace Concert – Encore

CD 6: Oedipus Tyrannus – previously unreleased 1974 soundtrack, Steven Wilson remix
01 Overture
02 Act 1
03 Act 2: Battle
04 Act 2: Baroque
05 Act 2: Zeus
06 Act 3

CD 7: Live at the Rainbow, London, October 27, 1974 – previously unreleased
01 Introduction by John Peel
02 The Rainbow Concert Part One
03 The Rainbow Concert Part Two

CD 8: Live at the Rainbow, London, October 27, 1974 – previously unreleased
01 The Rainbow Concert Part Three
02 The Rainbow Concert Encore

CD 9: Rubycon – originally released Virgin LP V2025, 1975; remixed by Steven Wilson
01 Rubycon Part One
02 Rubycon Part Two
Bonus Track:
03 Rubycon (extended introduction)

CD 10: Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London, April 2, 1975
01 The Royal Albert Hall Concert – Part One

CD 11: Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London, April 2, 1975
01 The Royal Albert Hall Concert – Part Two
02 The Royal Albert Hall Concert – Encore

CD 12: Ricochet – originally released Virgin LP 2044, 1975
01 Ricochet Part One
02 Ricochet Part Two
Bonus Tracks:
03 Ricochet Part One (Steven Wilson 2018 stereo remix)
04 Ricochet Part Two (Steven Wilson 2018 stereo remix)

CD 13: Stratosfear – originally released Virgin LP 2068, 1976
01 Stratosfear
02 The Big Sleep in Search of Hades
03 3am at the Border of the Marsh from Okefenokee
04 Invisible Limits
Bonus Tracks:
05 Coventry Cathedral (Original Film Soundrack)
06 Stratosfear (single edit)
07 The Big Sleep in Search of Hades (single edit)

CD 14: Encore – originally released Virgin LP VD2506, 1977
01 Cherokee Lane
02 Monolight
03 Cold Water Canyon
04 Desert Dream
Bonus Tracks:
05 Encore
06 Hobo March

CD 15: Cyclone – originally released Virgin LP 2097, 1978)
01 Bent Cold Sidewalk
02 Rising Runner Missed by Endless Sender
03 Madrigal Meridian
Bonus Tracks:
04 Haunted Heights (Peter Baumann)
05 Barryl Blue (Edgar Froese)

CD 16: Force Majeure – originally released Virgin LP V 2111, 1979)
01 Force Majeure
02 Cloudburst Flight
03 Thru Metamorphic Rocks
Bonus Track:
04 Chimes and Chains (Christoph Franke)

On 2015’s Prender el Alma, producer/percussionist Nicola Cruz distilled the sound of the Ecuadorian Andes to their essence, pairing wind instruments like the Andean pan flute and the bombo with subtle electronic rhythms and flourishes to create music that was as elastic as it was intriguing. Employing a combination of curiosity, reverence, and meticulous research, Cruz pioneered a sound designed to take the listener on a spiritual journey — a headspace where they could be transported to a realm of mysticism, love, and introspection. The runaway success of Prender el Alma took Cruz on a tour around the world, where he discovered new instruments, new stories, new collaborators, and new spiritual connections between his native Andes and the ancestral cultures and rhythms…

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…of the Americas. These explorations are the backbone of his new record, Siku, where the producer seeks to conjure a tangible sense of spirituality based on both communion and movement.

While Prender el Alma was a heady, minimalistic endeavor, Siku thrives on bright, fast-moving melodies, echoing layers of sound, and big, booming percussion. Opening tracks “Arka” and “Siku” which are intended to represent the indigenous concept of duality. Where “Arka” emphasizes the strong melodies of the pan flute and thunderous, marching drums, “Siku”—named after an Andean wind instrument used in traditional rituals—deploys house-style synths deep bass, edging the music into the realm of pop. Those songs stand a stark contrast to tracks like “Hacia Adelante,” a collaboration with singer Chato, and “Criançada,” which was recorded on the road with Brazilian poet and singer, Castello Branco. There, Cruz highlights the instruments and voices of Afro-diasporic styles like Colombian palenque and Brazilian samba—music that heavily relies on creating an instant, healing connection between mind, soul, and body. The music on Siku ebbs and flows around those themes of the terrestrial and the esoteric, with Cruz shines in respectfully using new sounds to dream up new realities and new definitions of heritage. Siku is Cruz’s most experimental work to date—an album that serves as an invitation for listeners to enter into a new, corporeal version of spiritualism. — daily.bandcamp.com

A few years ago, Ben Chasny reckoned his guitar playing needed a break or a breakthrough. Over the last two decades, recording as the superb Six Organs of Admittance and in a messy web of collaborations, Chasny had become one of the instrument’s most exploratory new masters. He had woven dizzying acoustic fantasies through psychedelic fever dreams, summoned stately solo meditations on poets and landscapes, and led full bands with cutting electric leads. But after a quarter-century, he detected a complacency that stemmed from endless cycles of recording, rehearsing, and touring. So he made the obvious choice: Combining his interests in chance, games, mysticism, and number theory, he invented an entire personalized system for…

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…composing that relied on a deck of cards to determine the notes he’d play on the guitar and, hopefully, force him out of old habits. He called it Hexadic.

Three years have passed since Chasny unveiled his Hexadic system with two records, both released in 2015. The first, Hexadic, is a scabrous, powerful noise rock statement, its arching distortion proclaiming that Chasny hadn’t somehow lost his edge in his new role as a theorist. Hexadic II, however, is cocoon-soft, its fluttering acoustic notes and nearly hummed words stretched like strands across each song. The LPs serve as testaments to Hexadic’s intrigue and versatility. Elsewhere, Chasny has sometimes struggled to explain the system, even as he’s led classes on it, written a book about its order of operation, and designed a deck of playing cards for interested musicians. He’s often had to talk about what it is and isn’t or who influenced it and who didn’t. For Hexadic III, he’s finally asked his friends for help with the demonstration.

Curated by Chasny, the new album collects seven diverse interpretations of the system from his inspirations and collaborators. Heron Oblivion’s Meg Baird and Charlie Saufley float through a gauze of gentle piano and guitar, while Richard Youngs wrestles the system into a surrealist collage of acidic distortion and vocals that flip between chants and rants. It all ends with the gorgeous and haunting “Zoa Pastorale,” a wordless keyboard hymn written by one of Hexadic’s earliest champions, British composer and theorist Phil Legard. Stuck somewhere between the fugues of Bach and the psychedelic extremes of Terry Riley, it’s a stunning little piece and an unexpected application for the guitar-centric Hexadic. Indeed, for the neophyte or the casually curious, Hexadic III illustrates the potential and promise of Chasny’s obscure method in a way that a dozen blog posts or even an instructional manual cannot.

Hexadic’s use of chance means that the relationship between notes likely isn’t what you’re used to hearing in familiar Western scales—it was created, after all, to disrupt those thought patterns. The system’s best results, then, suggest a maze of music, a stream of sound that the players simply seemed to have slipped inside. Moon Duo’s “Square of the Sun,” the smoldering krautrock jam that opens the album, epitomizes this feeling. The notes hang together loosely, conjuring recognizable guitar chords but never quite landing on them. The sensation is that of an ellipsis, suggesting this music might go on forever in search of resolution. It’s so perfect that perhaps it should. Likewise, a trio led by Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley seems set to drift forever toward the horizon; they eke out distorted chords and squeeze and stretch the rhythm, as if examining the output of Chasny’s system in real time, with genuine shared surprise. You can feel them searching for some end or climax, all the while knowing it doesn’t truly exist. Tashi Dorji condenses the quest into two tidy minutes of prepared acoustic guitar, a welcome proof of economy for a system that doesn’t favor it.

The most remarkable track here is the one that most fully rescues Hexadic from the realm of esoterica. On “The Hanging Man,” Jenks Miller begins with a riff that sounds like a sun-warped version of something he might play in his country-rock band, Mount Moriah—a crackling electric lead, all moaning and elegant. There’s a demented calliope organ line and distant vocals that seem to arrive on the wind. These threads gather across four minutes, then coil into a tight, delightful passage, with both the riff and the rhythm reflecting off of Miller’s singsong melody. It may be the first Hexadic song with a legitimate hook, a rarity in Miller’s slanted oeuvre, too. If Chasny’s goal was to help himself and others snap their habits, this is indisputable evidence he’s done it. — Pitchfork

This special edition includes the 12 original album tracks plus seven related bonus tracks. All the tracks have been sourced and re-mastered from the original production master tapes.
This is the first reissue of Kissing the Pink’s second studio album What Noise, originally released in 1984. It’s appearing on CD for the very first time.
What Noise featured the following two singles: ‘Radio On’ – this collection includes the album and 12” versions. ‘The Other Side of Heaven’ – is featured with the album, 7” Remix, 12” and Celestial versions. The other bonus tracks are sourced from the b/sides of the singles listed above and include ‘How Can I Live’, ‘Katherine Clarke’ and ‘What Noise – Longer Version’.
The album featured various producers on…

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…a track by track basis. These include Phillip Bagnall (The Blockheads, Depeche Mode), Ken Thomas (Public Image Ltd, Cocteau Twins), Michael Brauer (Coldplay, The Rolling Stones) and John Walters (Kate Bush, Landscape).

Kissing The Pink released an indie single ‘Don’t Hide in the Shadows’ in 1981 that brought them to the attention of Magnet Records. As a result the band signed to Magnet and enjoyed a top 20 hit with ‘The Last Film’, the third single from their debut album “Naked”. They released two further albums with the label, “What Noise”’ in 1984 and “Certain Things Are Likely” in 1986, the latter using the shortened band name KTP. The band enjoyed success in Europe and in the US especially in the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. There was one final album “Sugarland” in 1993.

Even within the relatively short time span of his burgeoning career, vibraphonist and composer Jonny Mansfield has amassed an impressive array of music prizes. These include the prestigious Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize from the Royal Academy of Music which made this recording possible. But far from resting on his laurels, Mansfield has been busy gigging throughout Europe including Amsterdam’s Bimhuis and London’s Ronnie Scott’s Club and the Royal Albert Hall. He’s also gigged with notable musicians including Chris Potter, Gareth Lockrane and Mark Lockhart.
On Mansfield’s impressive debut album, he’s assembled a throng of like-minded young musicians comprising his “Elftet” (the name derives from the eleven musicians in the band).

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His influences are diverse and include Duke Ellington and Maria Schneider. “Sailing” kicks off the set, led by Ellen Hohnen-Ford’s dulcet, folky vocals counterbalanced by the big band and Rory Ingham’s resonant trombone solo. “M&M” is introduced by vibes and lugubrious cello, before the ensemble takes-up the tune, followed by guitar and violin in rapid-fire union. The first guest soloist to perform is Chris Potter on tenor sax who brings his customary dexterity and lyricism to the piece. Mansfield’s agile vibes solo contrasts with more of Potter’s rumbustious tenor and the mellifluous and often complex arrangements of the ensemble.

The dreamy lullaby “Falling,” which incorporates the lyrics of the nursery rhyme “Cradle Song” by Thomas Dekker, features lissom vocals from Hohnen-Ford. The neo-baroque “T&C’s” is embellished by an extended solo from guest flautist Gareth Lockrane. “Mr Boz” is dedicated to Elftet’s drummer Boz Martin-Jones who provides a percussive foray on this short track. “Silhouette” was the first tune Mansfield wrote for the Elftet and features a sinewy guitar solo from Oliver Mason and searching vibes from Mansfield worthy of the late Bobby Hutcherson.

James Davison’s warm flugel solo on the opening of “For You” is joined in unison by Hohnen-Ford, followed by the ensemble which takes up the romantic melody. “Flying Kites,” dedicated to Mansfield’s father, is appropriately light and airy, with deft violin from Dominic Ingham and entrancing light and shade arrangements including sumptuously delicate vocals from Hohnen-Ford. “Sweet Potato” is a bluesy closer, with gorgeous Ellingtonian ensemble passages and Hammond organ from guest soloist Kit Downes.

There’s something of a Mike Gibbs feel to Mansfield’s compositions (especially with vibes, a favourite instrument of Gibbs) with some Loose Tubes sensibility thrown in for good measure, but none of these allusions detract from the sheer originality his music exudes. A promise of magnificent things to follow. — AllAboutJazz

Personnel: Jonny Mansfield: vibraphone; Ella Hohnen Ford: vocals, flute; James Davison: trumpet, flugelhorn; Tom Smith: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute; George Millard: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Rory Ingham: trombone; Dominic Ingham: violin, vocals; Laura Armstrong: cello; Oliver Mason: guitar; Will Harris: double bass, electric bass; Boz Martin-Jones: drums. Plus guests: Chris Potter (2): tenor saxophone; Gareth Lockrane (4): flute; Kit Downes (9): Hammond organ.

You don’t have to be as flashy or weird as Béla Fleck to make an impression with a banjo. Plenty of players and listeners alike feel just as much at home in the realm of straightforward country-folk. The music world always has plenty of room for tried-and-true familiarity, which doesn’t have to mean overdone or stale. Play from the heart and there’ll always be a niche somewhere for what you do.
Andy Thorn is in the latter camp among recent generations of five-stringers. He’s best known for an extended stint with Leftover Salmon, and the guests here include good friends like Andrew Marlin, Bobby Britt and jazz-grass luminary Jon Stickley. There’s some solid virtuosity running through Frontiers Like These,…

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…but that’s not really the point. Here it’s more than outmatched by down-home humility and an unmistakable camaraderie among the crew.

That’s not to say the leader isn’t interested in finding his own spin on the folkie thing. He celebrates his home state with a tune called “Blazing the Trail,” for one thing—an admirable theme, even if this particular subject (about legalizing some certain plant matter) won’t keep it from feeling dated down the road. His unassuming charm makes these melodies sound downright neighborly when he steps up to the mike, even when he’s musing on big-world issues such as capitalism and climate change.

Those pieces are balanced with some sprightly instrumental workouts, which both gives Frontiers a boost and sometimes leaves it feeling like two different EPs shuffled together. Thorn’s fretting and picking is as appealing as the hooks, while the guests’ guitar and violin make beautiful foils—check the gentle-flowing “Isabelle’s Wake” or the highlight “Thornado,” which (of course) leaves an eye of musical calm in between two roiling whirls.

The album’s bluegrassy part may stand out as the stronger half, but both sides of Thorn’s personality are nonetheless as genuine and easygoing as any listener could ask for. Slight patchwork quality or not, Frontiers Like These comes out as an amiable slow-grower with charm and style.

Stanley Brinks is joined by The Wave Pictures for their fifth album together; and their first since 2015’s “My Ass”. That’s not to say either have been slacking in that time, both are notoriously prolific: The Wave Pictures have turned out 5 albums and Brinks 7 since they last came together in the studio.
Stan arrived at the studio with several CDs worth of unrecorded songs on a balmy North London night and instructed The Wave Pictures to pick out some favourites to jam during the following three nights of recording sessions.
To anyone familiar with Stanley Brinks’ huge discography – more than 100 albums – it might sound more raw in a way, less sophisticated than some of his other recordings. It’s still rich in jazzy sounds and original structures however,…

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…the songs looser and full of playfulness, with the lyrics carrying the essence of the songs. — fikarecordings.com

Instrumental groups of the ’50s and ’60s used to regularly turn to movie and television themes for material, and Los Straitjackets have taken this great tradition into the year 2019. Channel Surfing is a four-song EP from everyone’s favorite masked, reverb-obsessed, vocalist-free combo where they tackle tunes associated with popular TV shows, and the lead-off track, “Game of Thrones,” was cut as the finale of the HBO series was the talk of the entertainment media. As is their habit, Los Straitjackets took the ominous melody and transformed it into a swingin’ number that suggests the point where the Ventures and Dick Dale meet, and they enjoy similar results with “The Fishin’ Hole” (better known as the signature tune for The Andy Griffith Show),…

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…”Ashokan Farewell” (which Ken Burns used as the main theme for his PBS documentary series The Civil War), and a medley that mashes up music from Dancing with the Stars and Sex and the City. Taken together, the EP clocks in at a bit less than ten minutes, so this hardly qualifies as a major release from the group, but from a standpoint of quality, this certainly lives up to their usual standards. The guitar work from Eddie Angel and Greg Townson tips its hat to artists they obviously love but with an imagination and wit that sets them apart, and bassist Pete Curry and drummer Chris Sprague are a rhythm section that seems incapable of taking a wrong step.

Channel Surfing is a release best left to the most serious fans of Los Straitjackets, given its brevity, but anyone who loves great instrumental rock with a keen surf influence will enjoy it while it lasts. Especially if they watch a lot of television.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been four years since the indie-shoegaze-dream-pop mashup otherwise known as Niights released their stellar debut LP Whisper. But after three years of near-constant writing and recording (mixed with a healthy dose of touring), the band is finally set to release their follow-up, the impressively ambitious Hellebores.
While much of Hellebores is clearly built around singer Jenna Fournier’s impassioned vocals and thoughtful lyrics, the ‘guitar/bass/drums’ portion of the band, spearheaded by guitarist and co-producer Frank Maraldo, provides the record with a tangible sonic foundation. With deep shades of post-rock-inspired instrumental sections and an ever-present wall of effects-laden…

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…guitars, Hellebores feels less like a ‘next’ chapter, and more like a culmination: the sound of a well-oiled artistic machine firing on all cylinders.

Swirling strums and some impeccable snare work provide the foundation for the aptly titled instrumental “Intro” before the band collectively crashes into “Generator”, a song that immediately places Fournier’s evocative vocals on full display. From there, percussive embellishments and inventive guitar-work drive songs like “So Into You”, “Trail of Blood” and “Stars”, before the album’s de facto centerpiece “Keyhole” closes out the first half in a rousing fashion.

While Hellebores Part.1 focuses on the band’s ethereal side, Part. 2* presents a collection of riff-driven space-rockers that further expands upon the scope of Niight’s previous output. “It Was” is just the sort of galloping rocker that Nina Gordon would have been proud to have written while the instrumental title track is a careening wall of sludge that brazenly leaps from the speakers. “With Bated Breath”, and the awe-inspiring workout that is “Sylvia” continue to careen from ‘soft’ to ‘loud’ with a brilliant mix of Sabbathized-riff-work and judiciously-implemented atmospherics while the gentle, album-closing “Caterpillar” serves as a collective last-gasp for both the band and the album.

Hellebores starts with a whisper and spends the next eleven tracks slowly building towards an awe-inspiring climax. It’s at all times ‘a lot’, without ever feeling like too much. And longtime fans of the well-traveled indie-rock outfit will be pleasantly surprised to find that the band’s 90’s shoegaze and dream-pop leanings are still in place, albeit, in a less obvious, more obfuscated way.

1. The Greenhornes – Saying Goodbye
2. Jake Wood – Born to Wander
3. The Raconteurs – Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)
4. Bush Tetras – Neverending Hum
5. A-Moms – Strawberry Cheesecake
6. Todd Albright – Savannah Mama
7. The White Stripes – Let’s Shake Hands (Alternate Take)
8. Teddy and the Rough Riders – I Found Somethin’
9. Lillie Mae – Loaner
10. Joshua Hedley – Mr. Jukebox
11. The Dead Weather – Forever My Queen
12. Alabama Shakes – Be Mine
13. Kelley Stoltz – Storms
14. David Nance Group – Meanwhile
15. The White Stripes – Signed D.C.

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15 incredible tracks from Jack White’s Third Man vault. Mojo Magazine August 2019