L' INVITATION AU SUICIDE

John Foxx - the garden (1981)

2011-12-12T12:15:00.001-08:00

The Garden is a return to Systems of Romance's futuristic romantic pop, running the gamut of elegant atmospheres, from the epic flair of "Europe After The Rain" (modeled after The Names' Spectators Of Life), to Roxy Music-like post-modern glam ("Systems of Romance"), sci-fi suspense ("When I Was A Man", "Fusion-Fission"), Orwellian religious music ("Pater Noster", "The Garden"), bombastic symphonic synth-glam ("Night Suit", "You Were There") etc. The general impression is of a European aristocrat dandy transported to the future. Get it here.

BPeople (1981)

2011-11-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

The Bpeople were one of these Post-Punk/ Art Punk bands that inherited the theatrical atmospheres of the Progressive Rock of the 70's (similar to Magazine and UK Decay) as depicted in the dense and frosty "Can Can't" and "I Am The Sky" (modeled after Magazine's "Definitive Gaze" from Real Life), the epic and grandiose "In The Mind" and "Time" (again modeled after Magazine's "Cut-Out Shapes" from Secondhand Daylight), but also the pretentious and boring "The Dark" and "Song Of The Children". The most impressive tracks were actually the brief gothic atmospheres of "Betrayal" and "Masquerade".

Nekropolis - musik aus dem schattenreich (1981)

2011-11-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Peter Frohmader's Nekropolis pioneers a number of genres, and also creates a highly original stylistic fusion in Music Aus Dem Schattenreich.

"Holle Im Angesicht" and "Fegefeuer" predate slow-motion doom-metal (and also pair it with the hyper-psychedelic vortex of the keyboards), while "Krypta" predates the dark ambient of bands like Brighter Death Now. At the same time, "Unendliche Qual" uses a kraut groove (but the eerie keyboards submerge it in the realm of the dead) and "Ghul" oozes with disintegrating symphonics. The ever unpredictable Frohmader even uses proto electro beats in "Inquanok".

This is a different kind of horror to, say, Throbbing Gristle's. Whereas TB's is psychological, this is physical: a descendant of the Teutonic Gothic spirit, German expressionism, of kraut rock, HP Lovecraft, of the occult. The resulting atmosphere evokes images of endless time in some kind of netherworld, of a forbidden mass taking place in a cathedral there.

Get it here.

Vyllies - velvet tales (1985)

2011-09-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Vyllies' synth-punk already reeked of catacomb atmospheres, but the inclusion of string arrangements in the Velvet Tales EP added a whole new dimension to their music.

The witches' incantation starts with the litany "Ahia". "Sky Is Full Of Stiches" introduces the black magic ceremony, that leads to a frenetic waltz accompanying a story of murder. Then the witches' voices introduce the intoxicating medieval atmosphere of "Agrainir", finally culminating to the metaphysical vortex of "Exquisite Carcass".

This majestic record feels more like a metaphysical thriller. Get it here (vinyl rip, includes photographs of the sleeve and vinyl).

Eskimo (1985)

2011-09-09T08:38:00.001-07:00

This forgotten EP by this forgotten French new-wave band starts with "Cannibal", which reveals a fascinating brew: cold-wave, manic funk, fragmented jazz rhythms, cosmic synthesizers. Using the same basic recipe, "King Kong Talk" plunges in a tense and paranoid atmosphere, while the performance hinges in a cubist deconstruction. "Tsi Zawa" is pure groove, a paralytic tribal dance, the epitome of cold-wave. "Ioti" features the most dense and climactic atmosphere yet: a robotic ceremony which slowly explodes and hangs by a thread. "Manana" retains the tension, but in a more mournful way. "Nageuse" is pure intrigue: thick layers of theatrical suspense and elegant tippy toes, until it expands in an ever denser threatening pantomime. Get it here (vinyl rip, includes photographs of the sleeve, inner sleeve, and the vinyl).

Dream Syndicate - the days of wine and roses (1982)

2011-08-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

The Dream Syndicate were arguably the quintessential Paisley-Underground band. You could say that all they did was fuse acid-rock with the decadent rock of Lou Reed, but that wouldn't do them justice. The Days Of Wine And Roses contained at least 5 masterpieces and the common ground between them was how the guitars of Steve Wynn and Karl Precoda combined to present fatalist tones and fitful atmospheres.

"Tell Me When It's Over" is a timeless ballad of rare elegance, somewhere between acid-rock and dream-pop (clearly Mazzy Star have listened a lot to this). A truly poetical guitar-part exalts the raga-rock litany "Halloween". The interplay between the 2 guitars in "When You Smile" is once again chilling; one guitar indulging in a drugged dirge, while the other hisses in unsettling distortions. The anemic ballad "Too Little Too Late" (modelled after the Velvet Underground's "New Age") is, again, elevated by the acid guitars. The anthemic rocker "Days Of Wine And Roses" is infused with a monolithic jam that reminds of the Chocolate Watchband's supersonic boogie "Let's Talk About Girls".

The rest of the album is not so good, but still exhibits a vast knowledge of the history of rock music. The problem is that it doesn't always transcends it's roots. Yet the punk blues "Definitely Clean" (somewhere between the Gun Club and Lou Reed), the 60's garage "That's What You Always Say" (nodding to the Blues Magoos) and the orgiastic blues-shuffle "Then She Remembers" (a la Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground) complement the album nicely.

In general, the method is to take the fatalist tone of, say, Bob Dylan or Neil Young, the decadent spirit of Lou Reed, and infuse it with the frenetic rock'n'roll of 60's garage, acid-rock, the post-acid guitars of Television, and voila, you get a record that covers the transition from the hippy culture of the 60's, to the urban neurosis of the 70's, through the industrial angst of the 80's. Get it here.

Tram - frequently asked questions (2000)

2011-06-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Tram's slowcore recalls the disquieting folk of Nick Drake, the more conventional moments of Low, and the more haunting moments of Ladybug Transistor. This form of chamber indie-pop, highlighted by classy jazzy playing and subtle string arrangements, has the quality of a bittersweet contemplation on one's life, as in the shimmering drama "Are You Satisfied", the haunting flare of "Yes But For How Long", the sparse reminiscence "This Sacred Day", the Tim Buckley cover "Once I Was", the fragile threshold of "Giving Up", the nocturnal anemia of "Underneath The Ceiling", and so on. Get it here.

Black Dice - creature comforts (2004)

2011-05-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

This second Black Dice album initializes with the disconnected mass of "Cloud Pleaser", and already you know this is not gonna be a regular listening experience. The 6-minute mini-fantasia "Treetops" confirms this, displaying an evolving fabric of electronic gurgling, rambling rhythms, guitar strumming, random noises, and naive vocal ditties presented in an elliptical manner. The 9-minute "Creature" further raises the stakes, exhibiting an ectoplasmic avant-delirium made out of a vibrant hum, vocal outbursts, bleeps, random rhythms, whose harmonic and rhythmic density keeps being tweaked, keeps forming different configurations of the elements at bay, eventually resulting in a shrill Industrial rhythm.

The centerpiece is the 15-minute "Skeleton", the apotheosis of their biological music, a specter of ghostly noises, a fragmented living tissue that dissolves in other living tissues which in turn unite and form other living tissues, an algorithm that calculates three-dimensional synthetic possibilities. This mind-blowing track represents a peak, it's as simple as that. The 7-minute "Night Flight" is more two-dimensional, but still represents an orgy of chaotic sounds intent on disrupting the harmonic continuum. Get it here.

Passage - pindrop (1980)

2011-05-01T04:39:00.001-07:00

Pindrop begins with "Fear", which is tense and neurasthenic Electronic Post-Punk, whose closest relative is probably that first monumental album of Suicide (without the rockabilly). But "Troops Out" is surprisingly upbeat and poppy (could be an Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark outtake), while "Carnal" is theatric and pounding. "Watching You Dance" returns to the spirit of the first track, albeit in a calmer setting, that of the nocturnal threat looming around taut senses. Taut senses that overshoot in the paroxysm of "Hunt", the paranoid rampage of "From The Heart" and the unhealthy disquiet of "Locust", as well as another exercise at building intensity in "16 Hours". Finally, a relative release is found in "Carmen" (that sounds like The Fall would sounds if they played Synth Pop). However, "A Certain Way To Go" revisits the lunacy in a calmer, almost ethereal, but still threatening scenery, while the icy-cold somber calmness of "Prelude" fragments into agonizing outbursts, presenting the icing on the cake of this masterpiece. Get it here.

Nico - the marble index (1968)

2011-03-31T14:11:00.001-07:00

Nico's sophomore effort was a dive into the void, a descent to a bottomless ocean, a hypnotic state which awakens the mind through life, reincarnation and beyond: "Lawns Of Dawns" introduces the hypnosis, the mesmerized mind reciting an incantation amidst a cacophonous maze of mirrors. "No One Is There" recalls 18th century romanticism, in what is basically a funereal chamber piece with the strings clashing with each other.

"Ari's Song" is a feverish psalm, "Facing The Wind" an obsessive liturgy and a psychotic cabaret piece, while "Julius Caesar" travels even further down the past (the chorus of some ancient tragedy, the ecstasy of a dervish). Eventually, the last two songs reach a terrifying apex. "Frozen Warnings" sets the icy sunset, through which the Valkyries' catastrophic call of "Evening Of Light" heralds Armageddon. Get it here.

Glenn Branca - the ascension (1981)

2011-02-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

Glenn Branca's The Ascension is played by an ensemble of 4 guitars, bass, and drums. It starts conventionally with "Lesson No. 2", which is elastic punk-funk, with the 4 guitars giving it a "symphonic" sound, but the track ends with crashing monotones, which speed up, slow down, speed up again etc. The 13-minute "The Spectacular Commodity" starts with Stravinsky-an ebullience, a sort of Rock in Opposition meets No Wave meets Chamber Music hybrid, but the continuation is quite anthemic. A series of movements follows, forming what is essentially a highly fluid mini-symphony, though a bit of pomp isn't avoided. "Structure" is an interlude which returns to cold, geometrical, glacial repetitions, layered in such a way so that they sound enormous.

The 8-minute "Light Field" is a perverse military-march of sorts, with the ensemble's typical huge sound. The movements are more subtle, with guitar lines that hide behind other guitar lines, until they align and "move" the track forwards, which itself represents a plexus in constant motion blur. Ambiance comes to the fore in the 13-minute "The Ascension", with reverberation creating a resonating sound, much more cosmic and religious than any of the previous tracks, with vibrant streams that represent an antenna that picks up spiritual forces; by 6:00 minutes, with the introduction of percussion, the track does indeed constitute a hymn of catastrophic intensity, until it freezes (7:30), re-starts, re-freezes, and then the track resumes on a slightly different harmonic scale, still representing a tortuous flow of cosmic forces, until they unite to form a spectral supernova and the track ends. Get it here.

Sonic Youth - bad moon rising (1985)

2011-01-30T08:17:00.001-08:00

After a brief intro, Bad Moon Rising kicks in proper with "Brave Men Run", which is impassive acid-rock for the brave new world of noise-rock, eventually ending in tentative feedback distortions. "Society Is A Hole" is a metallic nightmare, a metronomic clang frenzy. "I Love Her All The Time" (the first major highlight) is anti-kraut-rock for mesmerized nihilists, metaphysical blues-psychedelia for intellectual punks. "Ghost Bitch" is a dystopian no-chant, sang by the no-wave queen herself, Lydia Lunch. "I'm Insane" is a menacing garagebilly stomp played at erratic speeds and rotating elliptically, which ends with white noise and short-circuited frequencies, out of which surfaces a spectral mechanical chant. Through such cacophonous environments, "Justice Is Might" feels almost like an anthem, but then disappears in the dissonant abstract. The album appears to be going nowhere (in a good sense) before the wild unrestrained rock 'n' roll "Death Valley '69" (the second major highlight) brings Sonic Youth back from terra incognita into the familiar (but still threatening) musical constellations. Get it here.

23 Skidoo - seven songs (1982)

2010-12-31T11:36:00.000-08:00

The influence of Cabaret Voltaire and This Heat hangs heavily over this release by 23 Skidoo. But arguably, there's enough of their own personality to justify it's cult-status.

Check "Kundalini", with funk bass, industrial noise breaks, ethnic overtones and distorted vox. Or the more conventional funk-jazz "Vegas El Bandito". The anthemic "IY" sounds pretty conventional too, but is carried by orgiastic percussion.

Much more important was "Mary's Operation", an ambient piece with disorienting symphonic textures and dissonant jazzy brass. This is clearly illbient 15 years before it became a movement. Ditto for "New Testament", which also adds a threatening industrial clang to the recipe, and then finishes with a deformed ritualistic tribal chant. Also "Porno Base", where slow-motion bass engages in "dialogue" with vocal-samples. Then "Quiet Pillage" ends the album accordingly with a mutant exotica. Get it here.

Sophia - the infinite circle (1998)

2010-11-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

Αfter the unassuming debut, Sophia's sadcore assumed formal perfection with The Infinite Circle, a set of depressed, philosophical, epic, stately ballads ("Directionless", "If Only", "I'd Rather", "Every Day", "Woman"). These songs displayed a rare magniloquence, which bridged romanticism, the requiem, the meditation, the poetry of Leonard Cohen, the transcendence of Tim Buckley, the bombast of Scott Walker. In fact, their epic nature overcomes the manic depression, thus becoming a metaphor for the human condition ("Bastards", "Within Without", "River Song"), and with the reprise of "Directionless" completing a perfect circle, which is a metaphor for life itself. Get it here.

Christian Death - only theatre of pain (1982)

2010-10-31T07:15:00.000-07:00

Better production values dampen the attack somewhat (their peak remains the "primitive" Deathwish EP), as evidenced by the new version of "Cavity", turning from a panorama of frenzied distortions into a more clean-cut form of morbid psychedelia. Nevertheless, "Figurative Theatre" shows they haven't lost "the edge", seeing as a tame dark-punk verse derails to an explosive chorus, while "Burnt Offerings" shows that despite the clearer sound, theirs is still a paralytic form of death-disco, a terror acid-rock if you like.

"Mysterium Iniquitatis" is a very important track; firstly it showcases a progressive complex structure, and secondly it displays an angular bouncing chorus, whereas their death-rock moves closer to agonizing spazz-rock and what will eventually be called math-rock. In the meantime, "Stairs" dwells on atmosphere (lush and middle-eastern), and the same goes for "Romeo's Distress" (lush, epic and romantic). "Resurrection" is also an important track, where they gradually freak-out along an unusual harmonic scale. The final track "Prayer" shows a desire to experiment on the electronic free-form sonic environment (which Rozz Williams explored more convincingly in Premature Ejaculation).

The unsung hero of the album is Rikk Agnew, whose guitar leads and distortions battle for attention with Rozz's vocals: vitriolic, morbid, demonic, hysterical, agonizing. Get it here.

Gun Club - fire of love (1981)

2010-09-24T07:22:00.001-07:00

One of the best albums ever made.

The anthem "Sex Beat" sets the blues-punk train rolling. The dynamics gets even more precise and frantic in "Preaching The Blues" (a Robert Johnson cover), but things tone down a bit in the country-blues-punk "Promise Me", only to go berserk again in "She's Like Heroin To Me".

The way the Gun Club "expand" these songs to the point of delirium by adding extra layers of intensity is simply breathtaking. In just 2:30 minutes, "She's Like Heroin To Me" is like a piece of wood on fire, which then gets gasoline poured on top so that the fire gets even more wild, burning to it to the point of total consumption.

"For The Love Of Ivy" returns to the surgical manic precision of "Preaching The Blues", the band riding this roller-coaster ride with spectacular accuracy, while Jeffrey Lee Pierce screams his guts out like a madman. This dramatic side-one ends with "Fire Spirit", their most dramatic moment yet, but things don't let off in side-two, blasting straight away with "Ghost On The Highway", another emotional tour-de-force.

"Jack On Fire" displayed another dimension of their sound, still consumed by the infernal punk energy, but vibrating like a personal tragedy, and at the same time elegant like an epic. The coda to this amazing track is even more entrancing, with backing vocals adding a universal tone, while the lead guitar blazes through the sky like a comet.

With highlight after highlight, "Black Train" returns to a more feverish pace, displaying a devilish rhythm, with a less protagonist role for the guitar, showcasing instead the punctuality of Rob Ritter's bass and Terry Graham's drums.

"Cool Drink Of Water", a Tommy Johnson delta-blues cover, is the most traditional song here and as such the album's only misfire. However, the closer "Goodbye Johnny" returns to the more constrained narrator perspective of "Promise Me", though in a more universal manner. Get it here.

Cramps - songs the lord taught us (1980)

2010-08-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

The Cramps invented voodoobilly, i.e. a deranged form of rockabilly, possessed with punk mania and exorcised by the shamanic vocals of Lux Interior. From the ritualistic tom-toms of Nick Knox, to the chainsaw guitars of Poison Ivy and Bryan Gregory, and finally to Lux's werewolf-like Elvis imitation, the mood ranges from demonic freak-outs ("Rock On The Moon", "Sunglasses After Dark"), to zombified b-movie scores ("I Was A Teenage Werewolf", "Fever"), but behind the black-humour and kitsch lies some truly inspired mayhem. Get it here.

Sputniks Down - much was decided before you were born (2001)

2010-07-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

Sputniks Down out-Mogwai-ed Mogwai in Much Was Decided Before You Were Born, in pulsating post-rock ballads such as "Ralph M" (partly elegant acoustic psychedelia, partly subtle chamber brush-stroking), "A Golden Era Of Respectability" (with a nice harmonic progression), the funereal slow-moving stream of "Atonement", and the glittery texturing of "Pixelated" (a bit more rough). The whole album felt akin to a dreamy reminiscence while under the influence of antidepressants, with things finally starting to awaken in "Mie Scattering". It wasn't enough. The closing "P.K." returned to a comatose bittersweet surrender. Get it here.

Psychedelic Furs - (1980)

2010-06-18T05:04:00.000-07:00

The Psychedelic Furs were an interesting case amidst the neo-psychedelic fraction of the new-wave. "India" begins with a brooding symphonic melody, shy guitar and electronic dissonances, but the proper song kicks-in halfway through as a storming post-punk number. Richard Butler's gruff vocals, the dual guitars of Roger Morris and John Ashton (usually the one provides the soaring melodic motifs, while the other fills the gaps with distorted noise) and Vince Ely's frenetic drums make for an impressive sonic formula.

"Sister Europe" is equally charming with it's whirlpool of downtempo guitars and saxophones. "Imitation Of Christ" is jingle-jangly enough to evoke impressions of a post-punk version of the Byrds. "Fall" adds a twist over the swinging-pop of the 60's, much darker than, say, the Teardrop Explodes. Ditto for "Pulse" which is even more supersonic and also features a punk-refrain and an energetic sax-solo (Sex Pistols crossed with Roxy Music). Side two doesn't stray much from the afore-mentioned formula, although they still have the capacity to surprise (the wall of noise in "Flowers" hides one of their most delicate melodies). Get it here.

Simple Minds - empires and dance (1980)

2010-05-12T03:35:00.001-07:00

Empires And Dance continued the trend towards a more austere electronic form of music. The lush textures of Real to Real Cacophony have turned frigid and glacial, depicting an endless travel in a pan-european metropolis, lost between past world-wars, an upcoming cyber age, and the paranoia of the cold-war era, a mosaic represented by the dance ritual "I Travel", the decadent hymns "Today I Died Again" and "This Fear Of Gods", the robotic deafening funk "Celebrate", the oriental techno "Capital City", and the nightmarish cyclones "Constantinople Line" and "Twist/Run/Repulsion".

Perhaps more original were "Kant-Kino" (a national anthem for a future empire in disarray) and "Room" (a feverish voodoo techno ceremony).

An expressionist record, second part in their European trilogy (along with Real to Real Cacophony and Sons and Fascination), torn between a vague past (the symphonic, cosmopolitan, exotic elements) and an uncertain future (the electronic arrangements, the cyber-age, the cold war threat); a chapter in the history of a civilization in crisis, which suffocates the individual. Get it here.

The Chameleons - what does anything mean? basically (1985)

2010-04-05T03:47:00.000-07:00

The symphonic splendour of "Silence, Sea And Sky" opens this sophomore Chameleons effort in style: it's multi-layered orchestral wash "swimming" in reverberation and creating a feeling of celestial wonder. This symphonic tapestry permeates the background of "Perfume Garden", a more lyrical version of their pompous post-punk, articulate and melodically strong. With a less spectacular melody, "Intrigue In Tangiers" fares less well, despite the bombast involved in the orotund vocals of Mark Burgess, and the heavy-weight epic arrangements. In all honesty, the stilted nature of their music reflects what U2 were doing at the time in The Unforgettable Fire.

Incorporating this grandiloquent symphonic and mildly psychedelic ethereal framework in a more powerful post-punk track such as "Return Of The Roughnecks", the result is good, but not spectacular. In "Singing Rule Britannia", the bombast is effectively counteracted by a sad melody in the chorus. Alas, the recipe gets a bit same-y by "On The Beach". The more traditional "Looking Inwardly" feels much better. They return to the gloom-rock in "Home Is Where The Heart Is", the symphonic pomp this time backing a feeling of paranoia and working more efficiently, though no less declamatory. After all this bombast, the more straightforward lyricism of "P.S. Goodbye" comes as a breath of fresh air.

Overall, The Chameleons overstate their case a bit too much, which results in an uneven album, better balanced than the debut, but without majestic highlights such as "Monkeyland" and "Second Skin". Get it here.

Doldrums - desk trickery (1999)

2010-03-04T09:47:00.001-08:00

Desk Trickery displayed a jam-rock that was tribal, ethnic and almost industrial ("Sparkling Deadheadz"), flirting with the psychedelic ballad, but still chilling and unsettling ("Grill Out Time"), packing the odd pop melody before veering into noisy abstraction ("Free Festival Of The Stonebridge"), pale, ceremonial and almost delirious ("Who Shot J.R."), and also revisiting NEU's motorik beat and "Sister Ray's" soaring pandemonium. Get it here.

Siouxsie & The Banshees - juju (1981)

2010-02-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

Here the Banshees find the middle point between the litany and the epileptic fit. "Spellbound", "Into the Light" and "Arabian Nights" have an airy psychedelic vibe, while "Halloween", "Monitor", "Sin In My Heart" and "Head Cut" are feverish voodoo ceremonies, augmented by excellent guitar and percussive work, as well as Siouxsie's vocal acrobatics. Between these two approaches, "Night Shift" and "Voodoo Dolly" combine the nocturnal, subliminal threat, with the spasms of the exorcism. You could say that this a refinement of the Join Hands program, but this line-up is more convincing in it's execution. Get it here.

The Fall - grotesque (1980)

2010-01-14T03:18:00.000-08:00

The Fall are at their most disjointed in Grotesque and it sounds great. Detuned guitars, instruments out of sync, clanging drums add even more mayhem to an already cacophonous recipe.

Also, new ways are found to express their hysteric ramblings, like the drone-folk "New Face In Hell", the intense martial plonking "C'n'C-S Mithering", the rockabilly/ country frenzy "Container Drivers", the almost industrial "Impression of J. Temperance", the sparse electric shocks of "In The Park", the anthemic "Gramme Friday" which is a masterpiece of elaborate metamorphoses (from dark-punk, to swing and dub basslines a la PiL, to folk guitars, to almost psych-rock, to freak-out vocals) etc. Get it here.

Queen Adreena - taxidermy (2000)

2009-12-02T03:21:00.000-08:00

In the post-grunge (post-Hole), post-alternative (post-Garbage) and post-feminine (post-PJ Harvey) world, Queen Adreena's mainwoman Katie Jane Garside established a turbulent environment to be in, as shown in opener "Cold Fish", an angst-ridden pop anthem, unpegged by razor-sharp feedback. The twisted lounge "Soda Dreamer" followed, dreamy and haunted, while in "I Adore You" the violent thrusts of the guitar pushed further towards what was already a tense track. Katie Jane Garside occupied a dejected territory, delineated by "Yesterday's Hymn", a ghostly trip-hop comprised of her broken baby-doll delivery, male chanting vocals, and raspy loops. Then "Pretty Polly" started as a depressed dream-pop lullaby, but was later having feedback-laden rage-attacks.

More eclectic, "Yemaya" resembled a post-grunge cabaret for lost little-girls in an adult hostile environment. "Madraykin" continued to occupy a desolate territory, in what was essentially a fading radio transmission of a post-alternative serenade. These schizophrenic alternations between manic depression and rage attacks continued in "X-ing Off The Days", whose cries of agony pierced the air in what was basically a supersonic litany. The mania retreated in "Hide From Time", the little girl lost covering herself in a cocoon of psychological fortress. Alas, it was not to be, the raging mania resurfaced in "Friday's Child". The album was displaying a borderline dual personality. All these rage attacks, resulted in the same lapse of positive energy, a vicious loop confirmed by the trip-post-blues "Sleepwalking". The closing "Weeds" didn't offer any ray of hope, essentially a lament for what was a vicious circle of emotional dysfunction. Get it here.

Liars - they threw us all in a trench and stuck a monument on top (2001)

2009-11-21T05:16:00.000-08:00

When dance-punk was a prevailing movement in the early 00's, and before the Liars decided they were an art-rock band, they gave one of the definitive records of the genre with They Threw Us All In A Trench. It started with "Grown Men Don't Fall In The River", introduced by typical slacker-rock plucking, but soon got a kick up the butt by turning to a manic Gang Of Four-like punk-funk exercise, though it's structure was anything but stable, a trait that was also evident in the quasi-free-form and quasi-rap "Mr. Your On Fire Mr.", reminiscent of the Beastie Boys at their best, before it embarked once again in a Gang Of Four-styled chorus. Then the irregular chanting and rhythming in "Loose Nuts On The Velandrome" veered into no-wave territory, reminding of the Teenage Jesus & The Jerks' shattering "Orphans".

"Tumbling Walls Buried Me In The Debris With ESG" harked back to the Bush Tetras more broad punk-funk, albeit in modern post-everything production settings, and in the end embarking in a very effective dark-punk and punk-funk jamming, proving that the Liars were above all good musicians. In the meantime, industrial gurgling electronic noise enhanced the spazz framework in "Nothing Is Ever Lost Or Can Be Lost", one of their most angst ridden endeavors. The most impressive experiment was "This Dust Makes That Mud", whose fluid structure, led by tense synthesizer lines and agonizing thrumming shrieks, harked back to such cold-wave classics such as Joy Divisions' "I Remember Nothing" and the Talking Heads' "Overload", eventually leading to a nightmarish, psychedelic loop going on for 20 minutes, from where it seemed there was no exit. Get it here.

Erase Errata - other animals (2001)

2009-10-29T06:45:00.001-07:00

Erase Errata were amongst the more extreme practitioners of the dance-punk movement of the early 00's, essentially harking back to the no-wave of the late 70's and the spazz-rock of Brainiac from the 90's, as introduced by "Tongue Tied". The highlight was how the lead-guitar indulged in manic geometrical shapes within the already effervescent structures of the tracks.

This practice hinted towards a schizophrenic version of math-rock, as in "Bully Mummy", which basically enhanced Ludus' program from the early 80's, further shown in "Delivery". In the meantime, the noise-funk "Marathon" felt like a more extreme version of the Bush Tetras, while also remembering the Gang of Four in "Other Animals Are #1", and let's not forget the inventor of the chaotic math-no-wave, the Captain Beefheart of Trout Mask Replica, in the multi-layered chaos of "High Society".

Following that, the sheer noise of "..." reminded of the spasms of DNA. On the other hand, "French Canadia" was pure hysterical progressive-rock. Again, Ludus was the benchmark, a characteristic that was manifesting itself as intense and groovy in "How To Tell Yourself from A Television", or obsessive and ceremonial in "C. Rex", as impressive short circuits in "Walk Don't Fly", and finally resulting in spastic electrons trying to escape the confines of the atom in "---". Get it here.

Ludus - mother's hour (1981)

2009-10-09T03:04:00.001-07:00

"Mother's Hour" dispensed with the long progressive complex structures of their other work, but intensified the chaotic approach. At two minutes, this raised a tribal hell, free-form guitar noise, cathartic screams, yet still was perversely danceable and groovy. The B-side, "Patient", was not as spastic, but still sounded like a lounge-jazz tropicalia band having a panic attack. Ludus prove to be a quite versatile outfit. Get it here.

Half Japanese - loud (1981)

2009-09-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

A sprawling, spazztastic nerdcore no-wave attack, backed by a competent band that veers in off-kilter free-jazz and damaged ethnic mayhem (two saxophones, two drum-sets), occasionally revisiting the Pere Ubu-esque modern dance in a more dissonant form ("Gift"), and of course the Beefheart-ian damaged blues ("I Know How It Feels. Bad."), and further enhanced by the vitriolic lyrics. Get it here.

Butthole Surfers - rembrandt pussyhorse (1986)

2009-09-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

Arguably, their masterpiece. "Creep In The Cellar" served as a timid introduction, turning just a bit more sinister and damaged in "Sea Ferring", more than ever applying their art-damaged punk aesthetics to a broader American context, not urban, but modern rural, as if freak redneck farmers from Texas living in their own decadent incestuous microcosm. An unrecognizable mutilated cover of "American Woman" supported this impression, veering into psychedelic tribal chaos, while later resembling a mutant electro-rap. "Waiting For Jimmy To Kick" revisited the debut's acid-punk from another perspective, more sound-effect laden, with more ambitious arrangements, no less severe, no less drug-fueled.

Ever increasing the intensity, "Strangers Die Everyday" was a delirious requiem, an organ mass gurgling in a lake of LSD, creating nightmares. In "Perry" they paid tribute to their godfathers, Chrome and their supersonic acid punk-rock, albeit from an american populist defunkt robotic point of view. Then "Whirling Hall of Knives" assumed the form of a vibrant raga, glowing as if splattered with radioactive waste, marching and ponderous, self-transcendental amidst the miasmatic atmosphere. It was a recipe that got more rarified in "Mark Says Alright", before turning to a disorienting and abstract nightmare in the reprise of "In The Cellar". Get it here.

Animal Collective - here comes the indian (2003)

2009-08-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

It seems funny now, when considering the kind of stature they enjoy today amongst the indie community, how uncompromising the Animal Collective used to be. "Native Belle", a direct continuation of the spirit of Danse Manatee (their masterpiece), was an even more abstract tribal chant amidst a jungle ambience. "Hey Light" went further beyond, basically a flat-out free-form acid-trip, and ditto for the 12-minute "Two Sails On A Sound".

In "Infant Dressing Table", the musique concrète sampling turned to a mechanical chant. In "Panic", it was the reverse, it was the tribal chanting that formed a musique concrète ballet. After such excruciating dadaist environments, the hyperactive pop oddity "Slippi" came as some sort of relief, and felt like a cover of The Trashmen' "Surfin' Bird", paving the way for the fluid defunct chirping of "Too Soon". Get it here.

Tuxedomoon - joeboy in mexico (1998)

2009-08-10T02:22:00.000-07:00

Tuxedomoon had another partial reunion in 1998 (Brown and Principle) with the release of Joeboy in Mexico, and to their credit, this sounds closer to the post-rock generation than to new-wave revival. The industrial/ jazz/ ethnic collages "Door", "Viaje En La Sierra Madre", "Les Six", "Bitter Bark", "Hindi Loop" etc have something of the expanded noise jams of Jackie-O Motherfucker, or the disjointed elements of some Legendary Pink Dots works. It's rare that jam-based music can be successful, but this makes the grade, despite a few tracks ("Zombie Paradise 1") being overlong and slightly unfocused. Get it here.

Angels Of Light - everything is good here / please come home (2003)

2009-08-01T05:35:00.000-07:00

Having exorcised himself from the tension of the Swans, Michael Gira reinvented himself as a folk-shaman that turned to mysticism and religion for inspiration, as evidenced by "Palisades", a mystical folk/gospel that went back to Buffy Sainte Marie's Illuminations as a point of reference. The obsessive, almost delirious boogie/ hymn "All Souls' Rising", viewed the other side of the same shape, whereupon Gira recaptured some of the Swans' frenzy, but the gentle psychedelic raga serenade "Kosinski" retreated back to a delicate emotional balance.

The solemn folk lullaby "The Family God" grew more vibrant, eventually radiating a spiritual choral grandeur, but "Rose Of Los Angeles" freaked out, in what was essentially a devilish folk-dance ceremony. Clearly Gira was not freed from all his demons yet. His mystical folk acquired it's most spiritual guise yet in "Sunset Park", a folk chant which rotated like a nebulae until it ascended to a heaven-like trance. "Wedding" was the dizzy aftermath of this vision, but still acknowledging the existence of the mystical forces that exist around us. "What Will Come" was a much more somber aftermath, a mournful stream of metaphysical ambience that had no other way to go but to keep recycling itself in cul-de-sac tension. Get it here.

Jackie O Motherfucker - change (2002)

2009-07-20T05:57:00.001-07:00

In the post-rock atlas, though labeled as freak-folk, Jackie-O Motherfucker more so assumed the mantle of the Fahey-ian troupe recollecting their traveling experiences, but whereas Fahey was the wise troubadour singing about his travels in the civilization, Jackie-O Motherfucker were intellectual freaks that sung about their experiences in the primeval jungle, as evident in the translucent, shaman abstract blues "Everyday". Then "Sun Ray Harvester" dispensed with the blues and was left with an abstract current of ritualistic ambience, and Doors-ian psychodrama a la "The End". It was a sound infused with jazz and ethnic flavours in "777", and then turned full circle in the electrifying jazz/ ethnic/ blues "Bus Stop".

"Feast Οf Τhe Mau Mau" was their most jazz moment yet, but it was a primitive, ritualistic, atavistic jazz. In contrast, the essence of their music transubstantiated in a higher trance in "Fantasy Hay Co-Op", the tribal shamanism had apparently reached the spirit world. By "Breakdown", it wasn't as if the previous trance was revealed to be a temporary mirage, but more like the spiritual directions were being channeled in a more psychological direction, almost pathological, and ending in a fragile impressionist jam, the whole experience this fading away, being only a dream, a hypnosis. Get it here.

Legendary Pink Dots - malachai (1993)

2009-07-11T04:21:00.000-07:00

With Steven Stapleton (of Nurse With Wound fame) producing and participating, Malachai was a bit of an anomaly in the Dots' discography, no other album of theirs sounded like it, which proves how extensive Stapleton's contribution was.

"Joey The Canary" was a vibrant acid ballad, borrowing from an American Indian tribal ritual, and featuring a psychedelic screeching guitar solo. In contrast, "Kingdom Of The Flies" dived into the void of a catatonic psychedelic ballad, solemn, ethereal and graceful, with a mysterious and sinister epilogue. The Stapleton factor fired on all cylinders in "Encore Une Fois", a disjointed electronic lullaby, that felt like a magnet that dragged metallic musique-concrete arrangements, and moved them around at will. "Wildlife Estate" was just as weird, a freak soul-funk with expansive arrangements, as if a fusion collaboration between Frank Zappa and Syd Barrett.

Instead, "Pavane" was almost ambient jazz, abstract and cosmic, and with impressionist brush-strokes; it was an environment. Then "Window On The World", after a sinister and climactic noir-jazz first part (as if the soundtrack to a psychological thriller), it veered in a disorganized electronic jazz-ethnic march, bringing to mind both the anarchic spirit of Half Japanese and the junk culture of Faust, while the coda added further dysfunction, with a radio frequency going all wobbly and out of sync.

This dadaist mayhem also reminded of the collaboration between Ron Geesin & Roger Waters in Music From The Body. This was also echoed in the 19-minute "We Bring The Day", arguably the most ambitious piece, that assumed the forms of the fantasia, the requiem, the sonata, the folklore lullaby, the abstract symphony, the psychological ambient environment, and so forth. The lush jazz symphonic tapestry of "Paris 4 AM" was a fitting epilogue, as if the whole experience was a dream that faded away in the horizon. Get it here.

Meredith Monk - dolmen music (1981)

2009-06-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Meredith Monk and her vocal troupe cut a line between experimental theatre and music, marking a passage through the Ancient Greek tragedy, the opera, world-music, the archaic ritual and the mystical chant. It started with "Gotham Lullaby", presenting a contralto over a desolate and stark piano sonata. Then "Travelling" set a feverish gypsy dance, a wild ritual stirring the primeval forces at play. The sonata returned in "The Tale", as the backbone to an offbeat pantomime/ theatrical performance.

The album got progressively more ambitious, with "Biography" combining the operatic wail, what seemed like twisted reflections of some tragic torch song, and an experimental Ancient Greek tragedy. Yet the masterpiece was "Dolmen Music", an archaic ritual, a mystical chant that reached from the depths of time to the far reaches of the universe, a menacing polyphonic counterpoint between the male and female choir, like a cosmic beam resonating through the edges of the universe, and leaving behind a streaming echo of mass-subconscious particles.

Get it here.

Jon Hassell - fourth world volume two: dream theory in malaya (1981)

2009-06-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

It'd be wrong to say that Dream Theory In Malaya was jazz/ ethnic. It was much more than that. Jon Hassell was a musician researcher delving into the realms of Jung-ian psychology. Dream Theory In Malaya was expressionist, futuristic, impressionistic, surrealist. It was folklore set in a sub-chamber in a void. It was a subconscious dream.

"Chor Moire" was a futuristic camouflage for a world-ethnic music, vivisected and rearranged, miraged from a shapeless reality. "Courage" was an ectoplasmic ethnic-ritual stream, floating over a jungle landscape, formulating the turmoil of the spiritual-dance "Dream Theory". The end of the journey was the ghostly landscape of "Datu Bintung at Jelong".

The focus had shifted from the jungle to the sky, it was a subliminal landscape, reflections made out of aether.

It reflected both towards the future and towards an unimaginable past. "Malay" was an impressionistic sketch, it was the memory of hundreds of small streams running in the jungle to connect with a bigger whole. By "These Times", all that was left was a whisper, an inaudible gust of wind. By "Gift of Fire" the spiritual forces had gathered again, ready for yet another day of dance, condemned to be repeated in eternity, like seashell resonance. Get it here.

Residents - eskimo (1979)

2009-06-01T03:44:00.000-07:00

The Residents turned to ambient-concrete and ethnic in Eskimo, whose tracks were accompanied by text explanations, thus patronizing what should have been a visceral experience.

Purely musically, the ambient ceremonial chant "The Walrus Hunt" artificially recreated the feel of the arctic wasteland, whereas the starlit ritual "Birth" got some of the Residential weirdo treatment. Then in "Arctic Hysteria", the internal ethnic-concrete collage hinted at Jon Hassell's work to come. Similarly, "The Angry Angakok" reminded of Pink Floyd's concrete chaos in "Several Species" from Ummagumma. "A Spirit Steals A Child" was a deformed ethno-theatrical performance, while surprisingly, in "The Festival Of Death" the ritual metamorphosed to a delicate concerto, a warm moment in the frozen land.

Basically this album represents the point in The Residents' career when their music moved from being a stream of lava of abstract junk-culture to a conceptual art-rock.

EDIT: Dead link because of complaints to Rapidshare.

Yello - stella (1985)

2009-05-17T03:16:00.000-07:00

Yello maintained their place amidst the most creative bands of the 80's with Stella. "Desire" was one of their fluid, atmospheric, soundtrack-based, exotic tinged, electronic doom jazz themes. "Vicious Games" occupied the same territory, as if a haunted disco theme for a surreal soap-opera. In "Oh Yeah", the ever present deformed disco-theme was vivisected with an abundance of distorted vocal effects.

The epitome of elegance, "Desert Inn" was a mixture of ethnic ritual chanting, disco beats, jam-rock flourishes, and an epic ambient electronica awe. "Stalakdrama" was a symphonic experiment in tension, it's Wagnerian overture magnified to a point of feverish splendour. In "Koladi-ola", another ingenious piece of electro-pop, prevailed a digital funk-rock whose elements came from all sorts of disparate sources.

This wild eclecticism continued in "Domingo", a mix of heavy-metal, soundtrack themes, chanting, classical, banging beats etc. "Sometimes" returned to their elegant and gentle side, yet still managed to sound like a rolle-roaster ride. Similarly the desolate but grand synthscape of "Ciel Ouvert" evoked images of spiritual delirium. The amazing creativity encapsulated in these synth-rock tracks would make indie favourites like New Order or Depeche Mode blush at their own mediocrity. Get it here.

Metro Decay - υπέρβαση (1984)

2009-05-09T04:14:00.000-07:00

A classic record from the otherwise anemic Greek new-wave scene. Metro Decay's gloom-rock was electronic flavoured and lyrical ("Μαύρος Κύκνος"), occasionally acquiring an austere and epic tone ("Ανάμεσα σε 2 Κρεσέντα"). They were also capable of crafting ambitious compositions, such as "Το Ταξίδι", that vibrated amidst sinister synthesizer drone-oscillations, a robotic beat, ethereal piano brushstrokes and the melodic outburst of the chorus.

"Εισαγωγή στην Κινηση" was clearly influenced by Joy Division's "Isolation", but the ace up their sleeve was the traditional Greek-music garnishes amidst the frenetic electronic march. The same fundamentals were also applied in "Παιχνίδια στην Επιφάνεια", where the solo splashes veered almost into jazz territory. They were also competent at constructing fluid environments, like in the moving-blindly in the darkness threat of "Απειλή".

The ethereal gloom-rock returned in "Το Πάγωμα του Πάθους", where the cosmic sheen in their music simulated a free-fall in an ecstatic whirlpool. With the robotic beat replaced by a ritualistic trance and abstract symphonic ambience, "Υπέρβαση" reached for a sorrow far deeper - like Fra Lippo Lippi did in In Silence. It was a trend repeated in the galanty-show of "Λίμπιντο", that moved menacingly beneath the surface like a tectonic rift.

Get it here.

The Sound - shock of daylight (1984)

2009-05-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

Having embraced a more pop orientated direction, the Sound gave it their best shot with Shock Of Daylight, starting with the triumphant technicolor splash of "Golden Soldiers", all the while their gloom-rock assumed a more elegant and humane garb in "Longest Days", which was washed off in a melancholic stream in the paean "Counting The Days", and accompanied by minimal strumming and keyboards in "Winter" (the highlight). They also half embraced new-romanticism in the melodic funk-rock "A New Way Of Life" and the nocturnal "Dreams Then Plans". Emotion and melodies had replaced dark-punk edge.

Get it here.

Essence - nothing lasts forever (1991)

2009-04-24T11:18:00.001-07:00

The Essence were always perceived as Cure copycats, and rightly so. But then again they always wrote great songs, and at their best (A Monument Of Trust) they could tackle glimmering drama with ease. So it was with Nothing Lasts Forever, making it's case with bruised and elegiac pop ("Separation"), spiraling mood-swings ("How You Make Me Hate"), autumnal paeans ("September"), shimmering dramas ("Out Of Grace"), sparkling sorrowful sighs ("Everything"), triumphant pop that rose like a phoenix out of it's ashes ("Never Let Go"), wind-torn rain-soaked landscapes ("Thirty Second Song"), fragile farewells ("All Is Empty" and so on.

Get it here.

Alcest - souvenirs d'un autre monde (2007)

2009-04-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

In the post-metal world, Alcest further distanced themselves from the metal, and moved more towards shoegaze and dream-pop. So despite the opening salvo of the "symphonic"-wall of metal guitars, "Printemps Emeraude" was basically a tender, sweet and soaring shoegaze panorama. "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" was more somber and pensive, but still sweet and expansive, while "Les Iris" was glowing and candescent, like a comet falling amidst a background of the aurora borealis. "Sur L'autre Rive Je T'attendrai" was an astral requiem, a swirl of autumnal leaves heading towards the stratosphere, leaving only the faint symphonic and quasi-religious trail of "Tir Nan Og" behind.

Get it here.

Slowdive - souvlaki (1993)

2009-04-09T03:56:00.000-07:00

Slowdive diluted their sound somewhat in Souvlaki but, what they lacked in density, they made up in emotional gravitational pull.

"Alison" was a shoegaze paean that flickered like a small flame in the wind, before incandescing itself in the chorus. Then "Machine Gun" was a tender hymn that floated like a feather in the atmosphere. In contrast, "40 Days" traveled in space in supersonic speeds and was wrapped in motion blur. "Sing", co-written by Brian Eno, employed a twirl of electronics to emulate a state of weightlessness, before picking up speed in an endless fall in space.

"Souvlaki Space Station" continued the trend, now burning itself in this infinite fall in space. "When The Sun Hits" mourned for the fall and loss, eventually losing itself in the process. "Altogether" had lost it's senses, taking comfort in the temporary refuge of an internal cocoon. Even this embankment wasn't to last. "Melon Yellow" was falling too fast, too soon, into this internal abyss. "Dagger" certainly didn't offer any solace. By now the flickering flame of "Alison" was all but gone and all that was left was the memory of the flame, which in turn was fading into nothingness.

A masterpiece. Get it here.

My Bloody Valentine - loveless (1991)

2009-04-02T03:30:00.000-07:00

My Bloody Valentine was the one band to push the shoegaze sound to it's limits. The other was Slowdive. Loveless was their grand statement.

"Only Shallow" was a dream-pop dissevered with monstrous fuzz acid-rock outbursts. In "Loomer", their dream-pop became an amorphous toxic fuzz cloud. Then, after the loop intermezzo "Touched", "To Here Knows When" rose triumphantly like purging steam towards the sky; essentially this was the previous amorphous cloud having gotten rid of the fuzz and vocals, and having transubstantiated higher in the stratosphere to pure ethereal ecstatic sound.

When compared to these bold sonic experiments, "When You Sleep" was classic shoegaze (i.e. fuzz ridden dream-pop). Again, from this relatively standard moment, "I Only Said" exploded with giant whirlwinds of pure soaring, melodic, spiritual elation; if new-age music relaxed the spirit, then My Bloody Valentine's music washed off the spirit with white light from heaven, uniting it with the great one in a dizzying nirvana.

And again, this was followed by a more normal shoegaze track, "Come In Alone", which also reminded of 60's psychedelia. "Sometimes" was also fairly standard, though aided by a superb melody and a more pensive tone. The ectoplasmic nature of their music returned with "Blown A Wish", which was akin to a gospel floating in the airwaves in search of a heaven. And finally, in "What You Want" they merged their two guises: one, the superb shoegaze pop-psychedelia and, two, the impalpable ecstatic harmonic structure.

A triumph.

NOTE: Sorry folks, link removed by request.

Ride - nowhere (1990)

2009-03-25T06:06:00.001-07:00

Nowhere is generally considered one of the landmarks of shoegaze (aka an evolution of dream-pop, more psychedelic and enshrouded in colossal doses of distortion). It started with "Seagull", which was basically the shoegaze adaptation of a hippie anthem - typically buried in a thick veil of distorted effluviums. All the while "Kaleidoscope" winked to the Merseybeat sound - though again drenched in ecstatic and exhilarating distortion. "In A Different Place" was less good, essentially a shoegaze contemplative ballad, but they rebounded - and how - with the mesmerizing psychedelic acrobatics of "Dreams Burn Down" - replete with spectacular guitar fireworks splashing through the sky and then hanging in suspended animation.

Get it here.

Jarboe & Justin Broadrick - j2 (2008)

2009-03-18T05:40:00.001-07:00

Justin Broadrick's and Jarboe's J2 offered at least two masterpieces.

Firstly, "Decay", a Jarboe litany combined with disturbing loops, which slowly picks up pace until it forms a symphonic vortex of sorts, and then gets more and more intense and inhuman, a virtual black hole that warps everything. Bearing in mind where Jarboe and Broadrick come from, this is a worthy heir to both the Swans and Godflesh.

The second highlight, "Romp", features gospel influenced vocals and soaring symphonic synthesizers. Then these two elements blur and coalesce, creating a hyper-realist emotional environment. The end result wouldn't sound unlike Morcheeba covering Jesu while on a spiritual ecstasy.

The rest of the songs are not as intense. Nevertheless, the industrial trip-hop "Let Go", the supersonic rave-raga "Tribal Limo, "Magick Girl" (with emphatic hard-rock guitars and a multilayered dreamy electro pattern), and "8mmSweetBitter" (which is grainy ambient slowcore and dream-pop, but with soul vocals) are hardly without charm.

EDIT: Dead link because of complaints to Rapidshare.

Giddy Motors - make it pop (2002)

2009-03-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

Amidst an overly clinical (the electronic kind) or melodramatic (the GYBE kind) post-rock climate, the Giddy Motors re-consolidated what rock music is all about. Thus the hellish growls and fragmented structure of "Magmanic" returned to the no-wave and the noise-rock of the 80's - if not the progressive-rock of the 70's. Indeed, the loose structure of the noir no-funk "Hit Car" was genuinely menacing and demented. "Bottle Opener" added brains to the recipe - with refracted reflections of lounge, an elliptical punk-funk footing, and warped electronics.

This trend continued in "Cranium Crux", essentially a noise-rock band playing trip-hop cocktail-lounge. Nevertheless, the noise spasm resurrected in "Sassy" - replete with insane growling and howling. Their noir side also reappeared in the complected thriller boogie "Dog Hands". "Venus Medallist" was another surprise, an elegant strings ballad that wouldn't sound out of place in a Rachel's album. "Whirled By Curses" was the most eloquent yet, whereas after a Slint-ian introduction it veers into a noise salsa, then into a Birthday Party-like noise-funk, then into a magnified noise anthem and so on.

Get it here.

Contortions - buy (1979)

2009-03-03T04:35:00.000-08:00

James Chance and the Contortions were among the apostles of the no-wave. "Designed To Kill" was a visceral no-funk that utilized a semi-progressive structure, atonal saxophone and seething guitar work, as well as wild screams. "My Infatuation" used an even more deflating and arhythmic structure, with looser guitar and saxophone. "I Don't Want to Be Happy" was the most zappy yet - a veritable frenetic chase. Minus the feverish rhythm, their music reached levels of paroxysm and hallucination in "Anesthetic". With the rhythm added, it felt like the 50's rock 'n' roll dance of a madman in "Contort Yourself". Ditto for "Throw Me Away", that felt like a jazz-funk orchestra on amphetamines, an axis of discordance that continued in "Roving Eye", and in the sharp polygonal edges of "Twice Removed" (that even included some noir-swing).

Get it here.

Captain Beefheart - trout mask replica (1969)

2009-02-23T05:16:00.001-08:00

A highly complex, completely disjointed free-jazz funk blues which predates no-wave by about a decade.

Amidst the chaos, one can trace, to cite a few examples, a disguised convoluted harmonic progression in "Hair Pie Bake 1", wild up-and-down dynamics in "Sweet Sweet Bulbs", the robotic nonsense "Neon Meat Dream Of A Octofish" - featuring a devilish guitar solo counter-effected by a clarinet on fire, the faux chamber music of "Dali's Car", the multi-layered delirium of "Pena" etc.

It's hard to actually tell, but actually each piece is quite different than the other. It's like each piece represents a different diagram in a geometrical parabola wihch in turn represents structured chaos, though sometimes things are far more playful as in the clownish funfair big-band exercise "Sugar 'n Spikes", or in the sketch "Ant Man Bee".

Get it here.

Birthday Party - junkyard (1982)

2009-02-16T05:24:00.000-08:00

The Birthday Party stripped their sound to the bare essentials in Junkyard and if it didn't benefit them directly, it at least highlighted the substance of their demonic songs. It started with the ghostly explosive blues "She's Hit", whose tender (sort of) melody revealed a softer side in Cave. But it was not to last, as "Dead Joe" steamrolled it's way with a lightning-fast spasm. And there was no respite.

The hellish growls of "The Dim Locator" followed, and then the supersonic metallic nightmare Elvis-image "Hamlet" (unreal), then another menacing punk-blues ("6" Gold Blade") with a rollercoaster panic-inducing chorus. Finally, "Junkyard" proved that beneath the carnage lay a mature band that knew how to tamper with dynamics for as to provide mood. In the meantime, "Several Sins" let surface a spiritual side, with it's deformed faux-gospel crooning.

Get it here.

Les Georges Leningrad - deux hot dogs moutarde chou (2002)

2009-02-08T15:17:00.000-08:00

Les Georges Leningrad's debut blends the frenzied post-punk of early Section 25, the no-wave of the Contortions and DNA, and the synth-punk of early Tuxedomoon, but also updates these sounds for the digital age, adding grotesque vocals, distorted drum machines and electronic noise ("Lollipoplady", "Bad Smell", Didi Extra"). Spastic robotism prevails in "Georges V" and in the Residents cover "Constantinople", while too often they sabotage their grooves with noisy absurd instrumentation (as in the blues parody "Unimpermeable" or the quasi ethnic "Ccamcknenechn"). This insane energy and approach escapes the limits of mere imitation; Deux Hot Dogs is a worthy continuation of the post-punk program of the late 70's by a group of genuine fans and weirdos.

Get it here.

Sonic Youth - confusion is sex (1983)

2009-02-01T04:30:00.000-08:00

Sonic Youth signaled the transition from the no-wave to the noise-rock, underlined by the epic, menacing, irregular structure of "She's In A Bad Mood". Yet it was still rock: psychedelic, progressive and industrial. Sonic Youth never meant to destroy rock 'n' roll like the original no-wavers, but rather apply the new culture into it.

The nightmares of Lydia Lunch (think "The Agony Is The Ecstasy") were a reference-point in the ritual of doom "Protect Me You". They also resorted to horror theatrics in the semi Stooges cover "Freezer Burn/ I Wanna Be Your Dog" (first suspenseful tension, then all hell breaks loose), that also featured a nice display of Glenn Branca-inspired guitars.

"Shaking Hell" was essentially one long theatrical sketch, a music-hall from an industrial hell. Instead, an indicator for the future was the supersonic noise anthem "Inhuman", while "Confusion Is Next" was a different kind of punk, the most claustrophobic and progressive post-hardcore yet. Finally, "Lee Is Free" flirted with the subliminal and the possessed religious primitivism, echoing Circle X's similar experiment from the same year, but in a less ambitious way. Get it here.

Tuxedomoon - divine (1982)

2009-01-24T05:47:00.001-08:00

Tuxedomoon's soundtrack to Maurice Bejart's ballet Divine is even more ambitious and austere than previous releases. Basically herein Tuxedomoon invented a new form of futurism, one that worships the machine but also draws heavily on past classicism. Or to put it another way, the numerous classical and traditional references in Divine almost hang in suspended animation, ready to be manipulated by these industrial new-wave elitists.

Check how "Grand Hotel" is a European traditional string-dance based on an electronic vocal loop, or "Ninotchka"'s constant movement between the strings/ vocals (borrowing from Russian folklore) and electronics, the romantic psychological soundscapes of "Queen Christina" and "Camille", the slow-motion tension of "Mata Hari", and the feverish hallucinations of "Anna Christie" and "Freudlose Gasse".

Get it here.

Bush Tetras - rituals (1981)

2009-01-17T02:33:00.000-08:00

Bush Tetras concocted one of the most groovy sounds of the new-wave era, and Rituals is probably their peak. Theoretically originating from the no-wave movement (Pat Place was a guitarist in the Contortions), Bush Tetras have actually more to do with punk-funksters Α Certain Ratio and Gang Οf Four.

The hyperactive bass and airy percussion/ guitar in "You Can't be Funky" underlines a superb groove and tight melody; the remix "Funky" displays brass and synthesizers; "Cowboys in Africa" is an excellent fusion of punk, blues and funk, while "Rituals" adds psychedelia and dark-punk to the recipe.

It's just a shame that the Bush Tetras never got to release a full album back then. Get it here.

Prolapse - backsaturday (1995)

2009-01-09T05:29:00.000-08:00

Backsaturday was another impressive entry in the Prolapse discography. "Mein Minefield, Mine Landmine" introduced their angular kraut/ post-punk, which was enhanced with a glittering pop sheen and tempo-changes in "TCR". The eight-minute bass/ drums/ atmospherics cylinder-engine "Framen Fr. Cesar" hinted at a more subtle menace, but went into overdrive in "Every Night I'm Mentally Crucified", only for "Zen Nun Deb" to rise like a ghostly entity. The frenzied ethnic-folk dance "Irritating Radiator" reverted to a frenetic groove, but Linda Steelyard and Mick Derrick saved their most impressive vocal partnership for the fifteen-minute tour-de-force of "Flex": Steelyard's dream-pop lushness crossed spectacularly with Derrick's obsessive drunken rant, in a roller-coaster ride of a song.

Get it here.

Kommunity FK - the vision and the voice (1983)

2009-01-02T02:37:00.001-08:00

Kommunity FK presented a magma of death-rock, punk, garage and heavy-metal in The Vision And The Voice, as typified in "Restrictions". The recipe was able to establish several chemical bonds, like the claustrophobic, droning dark-punk buzz of "Bullets", or the suffocating environment created by the frenetic beat and ambient-effects in "Incompatible Disposition". At times their sound is even flirting with the intensity of hardcore ("Fuck The Kommunity"), achieving an almost symphonic, anthemic quality in "To Blame", or a cold-wave paralysis in "No Fear", and finally a call-to-arms in the gurgling gothic-garage "We Will Not Fall".

Get it here.

Karl Blake - the prehensible tales (1983)

2008-12-25T05:03:00.000-08:00

After the dissolution of the Lemon Kittens, both Karl Blake and Danielle Dax released astonishing albums.

"Baby's In Grey" presented a compost of psychedelic blues and jangle-pop, but with a screeching guitar solo surfacing here and there - echoes of a less ethnic Public Image Ltd. (circa Flowers Of Romance) and The Raincoats. The nine minute "Whistle And Weep" presented an even more damaged form of acid-rock, based on a siren playing at the wrong speed, Blake's detached vocals, and a monstrous acid-jam erupting every once in a while and then dissolving to an offbeat music-hall (replete with absurd sound-effects). This is the masterpiece of the album. Chrome on downers and seen through a distorted lens?

"Blast The Human Flower" resorted to a more traditional hard-rock/ doom/ acid format, while "The Waiting List" evoked images of Captain Beefheart fronting Black Sabbath. In the meantime, "People With No Shoulders" was a nightmarish ditty crossed with a suspenseful acid-garage shot to pieces. Then in "Dreams Of The Lichen Tester", a passionate, albeit cartoon-ish vocal performance was set against a background that slowly evolved to a droning acid-garage aculeus, while the vocals eventually mutated to David Thomas-like wails.

Against all odds, "A Misogyny Of Song" managed to evoke a tender impression amidst the previous wreckage, but it was only short lived. "Love So Much Like Violent Death" veered back towards cacophony, with industrial feedback and frequencies, and with Blake giving his best impression of Mark E. Smith.

Kindly contributed by Nexd. Get it here.

Oh and one last thing. Merry Xmas and a happy new year by IAS. -)

Nits - work (1981)

2008-12-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

The Nits' existential synth-pop sounds magnificent on Work. Benefiting from baroque arrangements (verging on chamber) and indulging on suspenseful paranoid atmospheres ("Lodger", "Hobbyland", "Umbrella Army", "Hands Οn Τhe Watch"), extruding a charming playfulness ("Footprint", "Slip Οf Τhe Tongue", "Tables & Chairs", "Buildings"), or even an epic flair ("Empty Room", "Red Tape", "Man Friday").

This belongs more to theatre than music, their deformed pantomime being able to conjure a wide array of emotions.

Get it here.

Ui - answers (2003)

2008-12-10T05:38:00.001-08:00

Ui remained in the post-rock atlas convincingly with Answers.

"Back Up" blended the neurotic funk practice with the convoluted structures of progressive-rock and the suave edge of post-rock, and while "Get Hot You Bum" was less abrasive, it was just as brainy and groovy, while "Mrs. Lady Lady" featured their most elastic basslines yet.

The contrasting micro-funk patterns and elegant jazz display of "Sunny Nights" showed how A Certain Ratio would have adapted to the post-rock age, while the minimal, feedback-ridden funk "Answers" used it's complex structure to emphasize a suspenseful mood (echoes of King Crimson circa Starless And Bible Black). Ditto for the Slint-ian mini-thriller "The Headache Boat", which was in contrast with the relatively lightweight "Boxer-Painter" (despite the ever present progressive structure).

The diversity just underlined Ui's capabilities.

The rest of the tracks, while not offering anything groundbreaking, were sleek presentations of their musical language (funk, jazz-rock, math-rock, electro), and "John Fitch Way" in particular was one of the most substantial progressive-rock workouts of recent years.

Get it here.

Astronauts - peter pan hits the suburbs (1981)

2008-12-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

The Astronauts, one of the more eclectic bands of the punk/ post-puk era, debuted with Peter Pan Hits the Suburbs in 1981.

The album's range is gigantic: from dissonant punk a la Fall ("Everything Stops for Baby"), to epic progressive folk ("Protest Song", "Baby Sings Folk Songs"), ditties ("Sod us"), hard-rock ("the Traveller"), pop ("How Green was my Valley"), garage/ surf ("Still Talking"), industrial ("How Long is a Piece of String"), and set to arrangements that employ synthesizers, flute, saxophone, and stray into progressive or even free-form/ psychedelic sections.

The icing on the cake is the mature statement of the lyrics, a cynical and bitter exploration of the lives of simple men, miles away from the generic horror/ punk overtones that permeated most of alternative albums at the time.

Get it here.

Heldon - un reve sans consequence speciale (1976)

2008-11-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

By the mid-70's, while other progressive bands were still lost in the tranquility of outer space, Heldon looked to the future, if not the timeless, with Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale.

Like a turbine in a factory, "Marie Virginie C" proceeds like a multi-layered, dissonant, energy-producing art-rock generator. Borrowing techniques from free-jazz (the squelching brass, the clanging percussion), musique-concrete and kosmische-rock (the inhuman rhythm) and art-rock, "Marie Virginie C" channels it's energy, like a giant solar panel, into a glaring dance.

"Elephanta" reveals the influence of free-jazz and musique-concrete even more within it's discordant structure, while exotic and ethnic percussion further adds to what is already a sonic puzzle. By the end of the track, we have witnessed the journey from the subconscious primitive to a present traumatic awakening, as evidenced in the Wagnerian, Teutonic, elliptical furore of "MVC II". Stunning!

Sadly, "Toward The Red Line" didn't seem to offer much, apart from Pink Floyd's "On The Run" extended and revisited, never really taking off like the previous three tracks.

Kindly contributed by Nexd. Get it here.

Dome - 3 (1981)

2008-11-17T10:59:00.001-08:00

Ex Wire duo Dome hit some real highs with 3, a series of atavistic, dissonant industrial-jazz vignettes.

Actually, even more subtle influences are incorporated in the ethnic "Jasz", the factory mini-symphony "Ar-gu", the primitive party rhythms of "Ba-dr", the destructive minimalism of "D-d-bo", the suffocating firepower of "Na-drm", the subconscious menace of "Danse", the zoom chanting of "Dasz" etc.

Most modern post-rock bands fall short of the creativity found in this spartan 1981 album. Get it here.

Cocteau Twins - head over heels (1983)

2008-11-09T04:24:00.000-08:00

The Cocteau Twins opened a new, fascinating chapter in their career with Head Over Heels. Their gothic-rock moved away from the paranoid tension of dark-punk and instead assimilated grand, theatrical, ethnic, ceremonial stylizations.

"When Mama Was Moth" signified the new approach with an almost new-age atmosphere, ceremonial drum-pounding, an ominous dense chamber background, Middle-Eastern chanting and medieval brass. Then "Five Ten Fiftyfold's" dramatic power owed something to the theatrical splendor of the progressive groups of the 70's (think Van der Graaf Generator), with airy passages that orientate the shape of gothic and dream-pop to come. Even better, "In Our Angelhood" soars like a dazzling ectoplasmic display of fireworks. The influence of Siouxsie And The Banshees is felt here (not the punk Banshees, but the Banshees that composed paroxysmal gothic dances such as "Icon" and "Playground Twist"). The ecstasy turns even more intense with "Glass Candle Grenades".

The second-side eases off the pace somewhat, with "Multifoiled" (a mishap) flirting with lounge, soul and funk atmospheres, and "My Love Paramour" being more traditionally post-punk. But "The Tinderbox" (with oriental percussion) is a transparent sepia autumnal fairy-tale requiem, while "Musette And Drums" is another staggering bittersweet ceremonial vortex, burning itself brightly like a comet, with a mesmerizing Elizabeth Fraser performance and a dizzying proto-shoegaze guitar-solo in the end.

Get it here.

The Holy Modal Rounders - indian war whoop (1967)

2008-11-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

Like similar groundbreaking albums in 1966/1967, Indian War Whoop seemed like it came out of nowhere.

"Indian War Whoop" constituted a tribal crossover between a dervish dance and a saloon epileptic fit, and "Sweet Apple Cider" a drunk helium lounge piano-bar country-serenade. The demented heretic tone of the jug-band country-blues "Cocaine Blues" actually hided a heartfelt melody and, similarly, the gypsy serenade "Sky Divers" camouflaged a musique-concrete barrage of electric violin and manic recitation before it veered in a more elegant traditional country-ballad direction; but it wasn't over yet; a final twist transformed the song to a chamber-cabaret crossover. Exquisite!

"The Second-Hand Watch" went into full-blown psychedelic echo-delay dome mode, paving the way for "Radar Blues", a colossal masterpiece - a country ballad carried by a gust of wind in a stream of molten deformed vocal-harmonies, forming various shapes along the way, from birds of prey, to enchanting sirens, to traditional dirge choral-parts, to lysergic chaos and so on. This experimental vocal-troupe vein continued in "Football Blues", but adorned with a cartoonish element of fury. This wonderful musical of the bizarre ends with the bittersweet harmonies of "Morning Glory", showing some structure beneath the chaos.

Get it here. Kindly contributed by Nexd.

Robyn Hitchcock - black snake diamond role (1981)

2008-10-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Robyn Hitchcock's debut was above all a great pop record, as seen in the airy power-pop "Man Who Invented Himself", the sugary boogie "Meat", the disco parody "Do Policemen Sing". Occasionally presenting himself as the new-wave version of Syd Barrett, like in "Brenda's Iron Sledge" (Arnold Layne era), or Jim Morrison ("Lizard").

A more original recipe can be found in "Acid Bird" (Byrds-ian guitars, funk bass, martial beat, lysergic melody, choral background), "I Watch The Cars" (a hard rock, surf, psych and punk pastiche), or even the melancholy ballad "Love".

Psych or not, the common denominator between all the songs is the catchy singalong melodies. Get it here.

Psychic TV - force the hand of chance (1982)

2008-10-17T01:09:00.000-07:00

Throbbing Gristle offshoot Psychic TV concocted one of the most surreal fusions of the era with Force The Hand Of Chance, an album that included romantic orchestral pop ("Just Drifting"), martial litany turned industrial acid-jam turned abstract folk ("Terminus"), oddball cheesy pop ("Stolen Kisses"), another litany turned arty dance pop ("Guiltless", co-written by Marc Almond), slow motion voodoobilly set over a disco beat ("No Go Go"), aggressive synth-pop spiced up with funky brass and guitar distortions ("Ov Power"), martial spoken word with dreamy string arrangements ("Message from the Temple") etc.

Get it here. Kindly contributed by Nexd.

In Camera - fin (1982)

2008-10-09T05:44:00.000-07:00

Dark-punk underachievers In Camera's swansong, Fin (actually a Peel session), was released in 1982. The band excels in creating a claustrophobic atmosphere in "Apocalypse" (driven by industrial guitar distortions, a frenetic tribal beat and agonizing screams of anguish) and "Co-Ordinates" (with an even more fragmented, metallic and paranoid climate), culminating in "Fatal Day", one of the epics of the cold wave movement: eleven minutes of ominous tension (expressed with slow-motion droning mechanical thrusts) exploding in a paralyzing frozen dance four minutes before the end.

Get it here.

Pere Ubu - new picnic time (1979)

2008-10-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

Pere Ubu showed no signs of slowing down with New Picnic Time.

It starts with the (un)easy-listening watercolor splash "The Fabulous Sequel" (basically Thomas raving over a lounge-jazz theme gone wrong, cacophonous guitar and air-raid-like synthesizers). "49 Guitars & One Girl" is even more fragmented and menacing, as if someone cut the previous song to pieces and played it at the wrong speed. Then "A Small Dark Cloud" really goes out of order, with an industrial acid-trip amidst a setting of runny sound-effects, a deflating bassline, sparse accompanying and insane cartoonish vocals. "Small Was Fast" instead opts for a dramatic feel with an emphatic beat and baroque choir effects. "All the Dogs Are Barking" continued in this vein but with a more floating, somnambulism-like tone.

"One Less Worry" was one more gag that veered towards damaged funk and the most acid psychedelia, while the industrial, whimsical uneasy-listening "Make Hay" reflected the spirit of "The Fabulous Sequel". The far-out psychedelic ethnic dirge "Goodbye" continued to push forward with new sketches for their deformed show, which culminated with their latest modern-dance "Kingdom Come".

Third masterpiece on a row. Clearly, Pere Ubu were on a roll between 1978-1980.

Get it here. Kindly contributed by Nexd.

Josef K - sorry for laughing (1981)

2008-09-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

Josef K recorded in November 1980 what was to be their debut album. Test pressings, sleeves and everything were made, yet in the end the release was cancelled due to the group being unsatisfied with production & mix values. Ironic when considering that this is a far superior effort to proper debut Only Fun in Town.

The cleaner mix provides enough clarity to propel their manic hyperactive disco-punk freak-outs ("Fun'n'Frenzy", "Heads Watch", "Sense Of Guilt", "Crazy To Exist"), which also contain elements of funk, blues, pop, folk, atmospherics etc, and occasionally reaching industrial intensity ("Drone", "Varation Of Scene").

Get it here.

Xiu Xiu - chapel of the chimes (2002)

2008-09-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

Having proven themselves with their fusion of Cure's emotional turmoil and Einstürzende Neubauten's sonic terrorism, and updating the sound for the post-rock generation by incorporating ethnic percussion, brass, synth-pop, techno beats etc, Xiu Xiu peaked with Chapel of the Chimes. The likes of "I Am The Center Of Your World" (a lounge piano ballad for psychotics), "Jennifer Lopez" (Van Der Graaf Generator remixed by early Modern English), "Ten Thousand Times A Minute" (a martial hymn for ghosts), "King Earth, King Earth" (a depressed folk singer performing a mass in outer space) have a transcendental quality which makes this EP one of the few works that matches Nico's emotional vortex.

Get it here.

Virgin Prunes - ..if i die, i die (1982)

2008-09-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

The Virgin Prunes' If I Die I Die is not the usual post-punk album.

Keyboard ambient suspense introduces "Ulakanakulot", as if something immense is going to happen. Tribal percussion follows, while a second keyboard-line weaves an anthemic melody over which the guitar paints it's medieval motif, and finally a third line of keyboards adds a truly submerging feel, menacing and disorienting. A stunning introduction to a stunning work.

"Decline and Fall" uses the same ingredients. It starts as a psalm of some mad priest, but adds an epic sad chorus and proceeds as a derranged melancholy piece. "Sweethome Under White Clouds" has the same feel of a litany out of control, Greek traditional funeral music, and also adds a disco backbeat over some truly inspiring guitar and saxophone work. "Bau Dachong", another masterpiece, a delirious decadent cabaret over a mosaic of guitar and piano distortions.

"Baby Turns Blue" is in comparison pure gothic disco, with the discordant electronic chorus et al. In another surprising twist, "Ballad Of The Man" is almost easy listening, half parody and half genuinely anthemic. Ditto for "Walls Of Jericho", but which stands as a tad more Virgin Prunes-ian. And finally, a return to form with "Caucasian Walk", with it's atavistic childish chorus and repetitive intensity, and also with the industrial music-hall "Theme For Thought". >

Throughout the album, the personality that shines the most is singer Gavin Friday, a chameleon that can adapt to any role and give that extra flavour to each song. But the band are no mere sidesmen; under the guidance of producer Colin Newman they provide taste and depth with the instrumentation.

In a sense, the masterpieces of the album all feature in the first (brown) side, while the second indulges in mainstream parodies.

Get it here. Kindly contributed by Nexd.

Mecano - subtitled (1980)

2008-09-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

Mecano created one of the great new-wave records with this Subtitled EP. Like Tuxedomoon before them, they created a new form of futurism by assimilating the past (the baroque magniloquence, the theatrical atmospheres, the psychedelic overtones, the progressive spirit) prominently into the basic ideas of futurism (the dance of the machines, the neurosis of industrial society, the eternal ballet of constant movement) and then turning them upside-down by presenting them within the back-to-basics context of the punk movement.

The result sounds timeless; we get the galloping cybernetic waltz "Meccano", the eloquent sarabande jamming "Note Of A Stroll In Spring", the neurotic sonata "Links" and so on. Unfortunately, this fantastic mini-album languishes in utter obscurity.

Get it here.

Circle X - prehistory (1983)

2008-08-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Circle X's Prehistory was the most far-out psychedelic album of it's time, if not of all times.

It started with "Current", a delirium depicting a primitive scene in a jungle - consisting of a buzz of swarming guitars, a dizzying polyphony of tribal-drums, an offbeat funk bassline with faint Middle-Eastern echoes, wild electronic noises and guitar-feedback, and semi-chanting vocals. The textures never stayed the same; the layers and density kept interweaving and were continuously rearranged.

The future-primitive (and thus subliminal) dance continued with "Prehistory I", that started with tame electronic noises and added apprehensive cries, fragmented tribal beats and manic guitar-strumming, bells-percussion, razor-like feedback, and then all the elements combined in a ritual-dance frenzy. The singer completed his suggestive psychoanalysis by delving into the subconscious of a menacing pagan sub-reality.

A disruption in the continuum was evident in "Culture Progress", where the nightmare took a vividly real form of a menacing abyss of wild dissonances, which then materialized in a cyclical industrial-dance of monstrous reflections in a mirror of ancient ornaments. Back in the shadow-world of the human subconscious, in "Underworld" the ancient land "beneath" is torn by miniature volcanoes of electric shocks, only for the Freud-ian id to take a non-form barely contained in colossal spasms.

More than just music, Prehistory's catharsis reached beyond.

Get it here. Thanks to Nexd. Included are pictures of the cover, back-cover, booklet, and two vinyl sides.

Tuxedomoon - no tears (1978)

2008-08-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

No Tears is even more engaging than Pinheads On The Move. "New Machine" is equally synth-punk and a romantic futurist anthem, while "Litebulb Overkill" transformed the new-wave song to an austere chamber sonata, "Nite And Day" to a depressed robotic surreal mini-symphony, and "No Tears" to a lycanthropic yell drone dance. With this release Tuxedomoon merged the punks with the intellectuals.

Get it here.

Gun Club - miami (1982)

2008-08-11T13:15:00.001-07:00

The Gun Club raised some more hell on Miami, but with a difference. Whereas the first album had transformed bestial instinct to a supernatural experience - a frenetic dance of demons, a celebration of the timeless spirit of rock'n'roll - the more restrained and spare Miami focused more on the emotional aspect: the wild cry of the wounded animal, the tortured soul of the performer.

Thus explosive tension characterizes the feverish voodoobilly "Carry Home", very effectively underlined by solemn slide guitar. Ditto for the punk-blues "Like Calling Up Thunder", while the gospel overtones in "Brother and Sister" give the song a messianic feel. "A Devil In The Woods" and "Sleeping In Blood City" are among their most wild moments, epileptic chants running at breakneck speed.

The tragic and universal element comes unexpectedly to the forefront with the sad melodies of the slide-guitar and vocal humming in "Texas Serenade", even more so in "Mother of Earth", and the country "John Hardy". Even the voodoo ritual "Watermelon Man" is dressed an existential color.

Get it here. Ta Nexd.

Mothers Of Invention - burnt weeny sandwich (1970)

2008-08-04T14:12:00.000-07:00

Zappa and his Mothers Of Invention struck again with Burnt Weeny Sandwich. The recipe this time ranged from lounge parodies ("WPLJ"), bust circus music ("Igor's Boogie Phase One"), soaring 60's soundtrack themes ("Overture To A Holiday In Berlin"), to epic acid-rock with wild percussion ("Theme From Burnt Weeny Sandwich"), unorthodox cosmopolitan jazz-themes ("Holiday in Berlin Full Blown"), exotic rainbow splashes ("Aybe Sea") and so on.

On top of it all lay the 18-minute "The Little House I Used to Live In", that starts as irrational piano sonata, turns to triumphant prog-jazz theme, and then to a colossal jam: frenetic, cacophonous, with acid, slavic-folk and lounge overtones. But the epic isn't over. It then transforms to a minor orchestral fantasia, and then turns to one last spectral delirious jam. This track is a wild celebration of the free creative spirit of this great band.

The closing 60's pop "Valarie" is one last joke by Zappa, the great prankster, and also adds to the surreal feel.

Get it here.

Bark Psychosis - ///codename: dustsucker (2004)

2008-07-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

Bark Psychosis (by now a solo project of Graham Sutton) write to their strengths in Codename Dustsucker. Their electro slowcore covers a wide range of atmospheres, from the narcoleptic bliss of "From What Is Said", to the post acid-jazz loungecore "Black Meat", the elliptical ballad "Burning The City" (that bridges Crescent and Masha Qrella - with gentle guitar strumming, glockenspiel, piano fragments, electronics), the ethereal "Shapeshifting".

On the other hand, like a colossal black-hole "Miss Abuse" dives to the subconscious (trance-like bells percussion, comatose vocals, menacing bass-lines, subliminal loops), "400 Winters" updates Pink Floyd's psychedelic ballads for the age of indietronica, "Inqb8tr" is dark-punk covered by post-rockers on downers.

Fans of Mogwai, Talk Talk, Low and Air should at least listen to this. Codename Dustsucker blurs the lines between ecstasy and depression.

Get it here. Ta Nexd.

Public Image Ltd - flowers of romance (1981)

2008-07-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

Public Image Ltd's fusion is one of the most huge in the post-punk canon.

We find African percussion/ Middle-Eastern litanies/ horror electronics ("Four Enclosed Walls"), atonal folk set on irregular rhythms and acid Eastern strings ("Track 8"), horror mantras/ exotic funereal percussion/ hallucinogenic atmosphere/ Arabic psalmody ("Phenagen"), subliminal fear/ voodoo drums/ Eastern invocations/ accordion cadence ("Flowers Of Romance"), African rituals/ tape manipulation/ oriental dance ("Under The House"), symphonic march ("Hymie's Him"), drone dance-punk ("Banging The Door"), catastrophic funk on amphetamines played by a free-jazz band ("Francis Massacre").

And all underlined by Lydon's lyrics, a sort of manifesto for post-industrial alienation. Essential.

EDIT: Dead link because of complaints to Rapidshare.

Fra Lippo Lippi - in silence (1981)

2008-07-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

Yet another facet of the dark-punk sound was exhibited by Norway's Fra Lippo Lippi. The usual characteristics are there: bass-prominence, cold atmospheres and tribal drums. But Fra Lippo Lippi's sound runs deeper than that. Their songs seem as if they come out of a catacomb, out of some alternate Middle-Ages dimension.

"In Silence" is built around a delicate melody carried by the bass and drums, while the guitar diffracts through mirror melodies of it's own, chanting vocals appear here and there in the background - as if to express the menace that plagues the medieval land, while the singer's ghostly baritone enhances the cursed surroundings.

"Recession" goes even deeper, 4 minutes of bass-heavy morbid monotony, slow besetting ritualistic drums and faint vocals, for an elegiac melody to finally appear through doom-laden synthesizers (as if a spectral presence is taking over), only for the song to end as it began with it's minimalistic cold-wave patterns.

"The Inside Veil" goes for a very effective slow/ fast dynamic and contrasting feel between the anaemic and the epic; "I Know" goes for a symphonic coda, and in "Quiet" a humble synth line underlines the singer's feeble cry.

Without a doubt, the album reaches it's apex with "Lost", that starts as a cosmic black hole, then tribal drums kick in and the dark priest chants his ritual, the medium vortex appears courtesy of the choral vox, sub-symphonic keyboards and ecstatic guitar, only for the ceremony to end without a logical conclusion, just everything fading quietly in the brooding horizon.

Get it here. Ta Nexd.

Ugly Casanova - sharpen your teeth (2002)

2008-07-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is a project by Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Brian Deck and Tim Rutili (both from Califone), Paul Jenkins (Black Heart Procession) and John Orth (Holopaw). It feels like a post-modern study of American music by an autistic robot, and elegantly quotes from different genres and time-lines, as in the folk/ blues/ electronica "Barnacles", the post-industrial blues/ gospel "Spilled Milk Factory", the ghostly hallucination "Pacifico", the acid/ country/ folk/ electronica "Smoke Like Ribbons" etc.

In the meantime, the anthemic melody of "Parasites" has a childish feel to it (in contrast with the epic horns in the background), the restless manic funk/ blues "Ice on the Sheets" remembers Pere Ubu, "Beesting" recalls Syd Barrett, while "Hotcha Girls" is a tranquil folk lullaby. This is more than a series of experiments. The album never feels artificial, never loses it's sense of purpose. An amazing work.

Get it here.

Nico - the end (1974)

2008-06-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

Nico achieved the perfect synthesis between the futuristic and the archaic with The End, a set of medieval incantations from another dimension ("It Has Not Taken Long"), manic-depressive liturgies for some deserted future land ("Secret Ride"), ectoplasmic tangos ("You Forgot To Answer"), rituals from the ancient priestess ("Innocent And Vain"), funeral music for demons ("Valley Of The Kings"), astral projections through catacombs ("We've Got The Gold").

The cover of "The End" (The Doors) is the least successful track here, but still fits well with the images of fallen future empires the album evokes. An intense rendition of "Das Lied Der Deutschen" is an appropriate finale. This trilogy of albums (Marble Index, Desertshore, this one), simply-put, belong among rock music's crowning achievements.

Get it here. Ta Nexd.

DNA - a taste of (1981)

2008-06-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

DNA pushed the no-wave sound like no other act at the time. The result ("New Fast", "5.30", "Blonde Redhead", "32123") is a bunch of free-funk, in which the guitar, the drums, the bass and the voice (that imitates the bluesmen), indulge in micro improvisations that break the compositional form into razor-sharp pieces. That they are able to get a groove, or provide suspenseful ambience ("New New", "Lying On The Sofa Of Life") amidst the carnage, is an achievement in itself.

Get it here. Ta Nexd.

Cabaret Voltaire - three mantras (1980)

2008-06-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

An astonishing album by the Cabs. Above all this is a tremendous psychedelic record, with "Eastern Mantra" being a crossover between Eastern litany, industrial, acid psychedelia, improvisation, electronics and dance music. All the while "Western Mantra" features an even looser form of psychedelia (Eastern elements abound here as well), assuming the guise of a hypnosis and subsequent delve into the collective subconscious of modern society, as well as an exorcism which reveals it's pagan roots.

Get it here. Another contribution by Nexd - thanks.

Comsat Angels - sleep no more (1981)

2008-05-25T04:50:00.001-07:00

If the first Comsat Angels album (Waiting For A Miracle) was a fractured take on English new-wave, then Sleep No More features a more unified, condensed and powerful sound, one based on tight performances, claustrophobic ambient atmosphere and acerbic grooves.

The more successful numbers, the ones that focus in the atmospheric vortex of the keyboards ("Sleep No More", "Light Years"), the martial nightmare ("Dark Parade", "Restless"), the rock punch of the post-punk band ("Eye Dance", "Goat Of The West"), are enough to give you goosebumps. Theirs is a music that bridges post-punk, Gregorian chant, martial pace, psychedelia and sonic layering.

Get it here.

Supersilent - 8 (2007)

2008-05-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

A stunning album by Supersilent.

"8.1" is a masterpiece of Lovecraft-ian proportions. An electronic machine that radiates subsonic frequencies that awaken new sensations, opening a gateway to some otherworld, and then turning it to a monstrous dance of sick kraut grooves. Then the paralytic improvisation "8.2" practically transforms this otherworld to music. The terror of the human experience in an alien place in space and time, where the limited sensations cannot adequately comprehend what's happening.

"8.3" adds a rhythm, but it still feels as alien as traveling blindfold in a glass labyrinth under an ultraviolet spectrum. You can't "see" it, but you can "sense" it. Then "8.4" is a glacial threnody for the world that is left behind. Still adjusting to this new phase of existence, "8.5" blends the narrow personal with the cosmic whole, where ultimately the cosmic prevails. Then "8.6" displays still more confusion of the senses, in a gelatinous sea of digital bleeps, where finally an alien siren sings an incomprehensible hymn from beyond the infinite.

After yet another devastating attack on the senses through the deformed lens of infinite outer space with "8.7", the epilogue "8.8" doesn't offer any conclusions, merely doubt and uncertainty.

Supersilent have transcended the synthesis of jazz, improvisation, avant-garde and electronica. Theirs is a new music now, a mutant symbiosis of the afore-mentioned genres, but which has acquired a new guise of it's own. Being able to convey powerful emotions and impressions, Supersilent now belong amongst the "philosophers" of popular music.

Get it here. Thanks to Nexd for yet another contribution.

Vainio Vaisanen Vega - endless (1998)

2008-05-10T16:01:00.001-07:00

In this 1998 collaboration between Pansonic and Alan Vega, Pansonic create a desolate soundscape over which Vega chants his incantations. The glitch-noir futuristic disco "Medal", the noise-techno "Incredible Criminals", the factory pulse of "Motor Maniac" and "Sick Sick USA", the frozen cyclone "No Home Kings" (with delirious vocals), the free-form dadaist collage "Outrage for the Frontpage", the thriller-soundtrack of "Endless", the electric radiation of "Desperate Fa Tha Miracle", the homage to the original spirit of Suicide "Red Lights Down", the percussive/ minimalist "Fun In The Wonderland", the suspenseful electro "Baby Lips", the monolithic cardiogram ambience of "Disgrace" etc are more than simple songs; they are a visionary depiction of cyber-neurosis.

Get it here.

Swans - young god (1984)

2008-05-04T08:03:00.001-07:00

The Young God EP marked the end of the Swans' early industrial phase, and the beginning of a transitional period for them. In many ways, the first three tracks represent the peak of the first phase.

"I Crawled" is introduced by a tempest of guitar, as if in slow-motion, colossal drum thunderbolts, unsettling electronic effects, boiling together in a cauldron of existential turmoil, and forming an inhuman tornado by the end of the track as Gira declares: "Be my father, be my father, think for me, make it right, put your hands on my throat, choke me, we'll ride". This is as much impotence, as it is S&M pleasure.

"Raping a Slave" takes the form of the Panzer march bulldozing everything on it's way, but with the usual terrifying existential underline. Gira growls: "Why be ashamed of hatred, there's nothing wrong with burning, I work hard for everything I own, everything I own chokes me when I sleep". As the devastating rhythm assumes the form of the lashing-strap, punishing (or defining) the singer's ego, the confession reaches a point of delirium: "You burn out your heart, you burn out my heart, then you eat my heart, you cut out your heart, then you eat your heart..". It's hard to imagine what sort of demons haunt Gira's soul, as around him the band virtually detonates like a nuclear bomb.

"Young God" finds Gira exhausted, mumbling in a tired voice: "I don't know where I am, I'm dancing in my corpse, I don't remember anything, I'm wearing your flesh, your flesh is my face, I love your face". The storm seems to subside around him, with the ominous drones of the guitar slowing-down significantly, but the demon refuses to give way. Loud screams, like industrial vomit, accompany the volcanic erruptions of the percussion, while in the end the band goes on with a metallic dance.

The journey could have ended here. "This Is Mine" doesn't really add anything, other than another batch of brutal declarations amidst the death-factory: "This is mine, I own it, I own this thing, I hate everything that I don't own, I own this hole, get out of my hole, it's mine".

Get it here. Thanks to Nexd for another contribution.

Wah! - nah= poo, the art of bluff (1981)

2008-04-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

Pete Wylie was unjustly neglected amidst the neo-psychedelic scene of Liverpool, where Ian McCulloch and Julian Cope stole the limelight. Nah=Poo is certainly a splendid album.

Check the dark-punk ritual "Wind Up" (similar to Modern Eon), the glacial mixture of power-pop and dark-wave "Otherboys" (with the Wagner-ian synths), the hysterical new-wave "Why D'You Imitate The Cutout" (akin to the XTC), or "Mission Impossible" (akin to a more gothic Teardrop Explodes), occasionally reaching paroxysm levels in it's wall of sound ("Seven Thousand Names"), and sabotaged by discordant sections ("Somesay").

Actually, this is a very creative record that surpasses both the debuts of Echo and the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes. It's not often that someone can combine the melodic and the neurotic element so effortlessly.

EDIT: Dead link because of complaints to Rapidshare.

Anne Clark - the sitting room [1982]

2008-04-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Anne Clark was never really a singer, more of a reciter, albeit a powerful one. That's the case with this 1982 EP, though the music is quite exceptional.

We get recitations over synthscapes that are kosmische, symphonic and dreamy ("The Sitting Room"). Actually, this particular formula predates dream-techno by about a decade.

Also, there's tormented musique concrete ("Swimming", "The Power Game") which then transforms to moody and robotic ambient-oramas ("An Ordinary Life") and then to transparent requiems ("Shades"). Finally, there's fragile synth-folk ("Short Story"), and futuristic adaptations of traditional dirge-music ("All We Have To Be Thankful For").

An excellent EP that languishes in obscurity. Get it here.

Mission Of Burma - vs. (1982)

2008-04-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, the Mission Of Burma's VS had few equals.

"Secrets" is a post-punk blazing star, which steals the manic energy from hardcore. The bouncy "Train" betrays the influence of the Gang Of Four, but the structure borrows from progressive-rock as well. The phosphorescent march "Trem Two" shows that they've listened to Martin Hannett's productions (think Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades"), while the discordant guitar-patterns in "New Nails" owe a lot to the MX-80 Sound. "Dead Pool" reinterpretes the Velvet Underground's "Venus In Furs" through the elaborate structures of progressive-rock, and the neurosis of the post-punk climate.

Like an avalanche, "Learn How" bulldozes everything in it's way, while the guitar displays pure mania in it's staccato noise fabric. "Mica" adds an anthemic progression, and "Weatherbox" adds vibrant concrete electronics. The catastrophic intensity of "Ballad Of Johnny Burma" is also increased by a spastic middle-section. Nevertheless, the geometric structure of these spasms proves just how influential the Burma were to the math-rock movement. The elegant "Einstein's Day" bridges the most dream-like acid-rock, post-punk and hardcore. Ditto for the guitar-solo in "Fun World" (whose basis is an industrial boogie) which is mesmerizing.

Simply put, a masterpiece. Get it here.

John Cale - fear (1974)

2008-04-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

John Cale converted to glam-rock with Fear, and particularly the theatric qualities of glam-rock. It's an eclectic take for sure, with a wide range of moods and textures, like the anthemic "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" (worthy of Roxy Music, whose members assist here), the cinematic "Buffalo Ballet", the eerie "Emily", the daydreaming "Ship Of Fools" (worthy of a Christmas carol), the obsessive country "Gun", the blatant pop "Man Who Couldn't", the Latin groove of "Barracuda", the ethereal "You Know More", the blues/soul "Momamma Scuba".

Basically Cale's specialty is the eerie, ectoplasmic numbers, and it's this part of the material which wins here, hands down. The rest are simply interesting diversions. Also on the downside are always his unassuming vocals. Generally, Cale's solo work can't compare with his output as a member of the Velvet Underground, or even his collaborations with Nico. He will mostly be remembered for that stuff, but Fear comes close to matching them.

Get it here. Another contribution by Nexd (muchos gracias).

Tuxedomoon - desire (1981)

2008-03-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Tuxedomoon pushed their sound to the limits with Desire, a colossal work that contained sinister electronic waltzes ("East/Jinx"), syncopated dances for androids ("Victims Of The Dance"), musique concrete fantasias ("Music#1"), noir synth-punk with string arrangements ("Incubus"), pantomime psychodramas ("Desire"), synth-jazz collages with passionate crooning ("Again"), out-of-tune demonic ballets ("In The Name Of Talent"), etc.

And all drenched in a decadent existential tone, played with the austerity of a chamber orchestra, and arranged by post-modern futurists.

This is a new language for music, the fusion is monumental. Get it here.

Faust - faust (1971)

2008-03-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

Faust's first album is a radioactive transmission, a dadaist Zappa-esque fanfare, a populist collage, concrete electronics, demented jam, a ballad played by robots, an ambient environment ("Why Don't You Eat Carrots"), as well as a psychedelic freak-out, retarded jazz crooning, a sonata on acid, tonal experiment ("Miss Fortune").

One of the best kraut-rock albums, something that can be said for most of their works.

Thanks to Nexd for another contribution. Get it here.

El Guapo - super/system (2002)

2008-03-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

Amidst the disco-punk fad of the early 00's, El Guapo's Super/System actually offered more than just new-wave revisited.

"My Bird Sings" is a Devo-esque hiccup, while "Elguapolis" a spastic electronic vignette. "Inevitability" takes a basic anthemic rock motif and adds quirky electronics, not to mention some samba percussion in the end. The obsessive bassline in "Rumbledream" reminds of Faust's "Jennifer", and the hammering beat in the end pays tribute to Neu, yet the basis is a psychedelic blues number a la Syd Barrett's "Rats". Another vignette, "Time Crisis II", goes for suspenseful ambience and finishes in a free-jazz tinged coda.

Minimalism prevails in "Rhyme Scene", which could be 80's synth-pop if it wasn't for the enigmatic horn section and the dub-drenched production values. "As In" is one of the most elaborate tracks here (breakbeats, spooky ambience, chant-like vocals, accordions). The paranoid grooves of "Buildables" again hark back to 80's wave (think Eyeless In Gaza), but the digital production is pure 00's. The catchy melody in "Scientific Instruments" is grossly disfigured by a barrage of industrial sound-effects and weird instrumentation.

Yet another vignette, "Faith-Based Music", sounds actually like derranged robots playing circus music. "Disappointment Spelled With V" presents the usual menacing synth-pop, this time sabotaged by brass which is half free-jazz and half bucolic Balcan ethnic. "Laser Eyes" (part disco and part electro chant) soon turns to musique concrete mayhem, but then turns again to distorted disco, only to turn again to abstract avant-garde noise. In "Clock", doo-wop vocals counter a cranky lullaby as played by a progressive-rock band. Finally, "Being Boulevards" is a free-jazz band covering The Fall (or the opposite), but then midway through transforms to sinister kosmische ambient.

What really stands out amidst these very creative tracks is not the dadaist spirit, the cubist arrangements, or even the post-modern production values, but rather the demented grooves.

Get it here.

Town And Country - c'mon (2002)

2008-03-01T05:12:00.001-08:00

Town And Country achieved a magical balance with C'mon, between jazz, improvisation, minimalism, avant-garde, slowcore and folk.

The hypnotic melancholy of "Going To Kakamura" contained a quiet menace and a metaphysical meaning within it's subliminal grooves. Ditto for "I'm Appealing", whose minimalist repetitions evoke impressions of gentle progression, but slowly get more manic and sinister until they reach an ecstatic apex.

Town And Country are true masters of their craft. In "The Bells", the way the repetitions change very slightly and very smoothly to present emotional landscapes is stunning. In "Bookmobile", they blend irrational textures of lounge and folk, yet as the song progresses it gets more and more tired, culminating in a lazy echo that feels like the credits to a film's end.

A masterwork.

Get it here. Thanks to Nexd for another contribution.

Boxhead Ensemble - two brothers (2001)

2008-02-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

Michael Krassner assembled yet another version of the Boxhead Ensemble to record the amazing Two Brothers.

"From This Point Onward" (11 minutes) is an abstract chamber-requiem as performed by a fusion band. The instrumental interplay often gets discordant within the track, but is then covered up by the resigned melancholia of Jessica Billey's violin in particular. The sleepy pace recalls slowcore, the tight improvisation recalls jazz, while the austere nature recalls chamber music.

The most epic is "Two Brothers" (18 minutes) which starts as a Slavic folk-theme adapted to the slowcore sensibility, over which further guitar is deployed in Fahey-ian landscapes and dissonant picking. To add to the intensity, electronic effects cast further dejection and disharmony to the lonely and ghostly scenery of the track.

"Requiem" (10 minutes) features a prominent melody which the band exploits at will, covering an extensive range of moods as the track progresses, from majestic, to mournful, to romantic, to tragic, to playful, to introspective etc. "Come Again No More" is perhaps the most impressive, with the strings radiating their unearthly energy in what at times appears to be a cacophonous sea of sound, and at times a soaring ultraviolet hymn.

Yet despite the epic length of these tracks, one shouldn't neglect the humble 3 minutes of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (a sad winter meditation, with the radiant strings giving it an almost demonic tone in the end), the suspenseful 4 minutes of "The Half-Light" (a desolate jam with tense horns, metallic percussion and haunted electronic effects), and the 3 minutes of "Sba" (echoes of a faint contemplation amidst a cursed landscape).

Get it here.

Mojave 3 - ask me tomorrow (1995)

2008-02-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

The transition from Slowdive to Mojave 3 (i.e. from shoegaze and dream-pop to slowcore and country-pop) was as smooth as possible for Neil Halstead and co, as announced by the gentle slide-guitar in "Love Songs On The Radio" which has a tranquil Mazzy Star and Cowboy Junkies-like quality. At the same time, other songs veer towards the classics, from the existential balladry of Neil Young ("Sarah"), to the philosophical balladry of Leonard Cohen ("Where Is The Love"), to the hallucinated balladry of Tim Buckley ("Candle Song 3"), to the anemic balladry of Nick Drake ("You're Beautiful").

But the real gems are, arguably, just Mojave 3's. The dream-pop/ country crossover "Tomorrow's Taken" finds it's way towards the soul with it's bittersweet contemplation (with a coda of resigned piano and violin). Ditto for the ghostly serenade "After All", while the frozen guitar-patterns in "Pictures" display a rare elegance. Couple that with the intimate heartfelt melodies, and you get some amazing moments. The epic "Mercy" (half Dylan and half Pink Floyd at their most theatrical - think "Comfortably Numb") is just a splendid epilogue.

Get it here.

Thanks to Nexd for another contribution.

Eyeless In Gaza - pale hands i loved so well (1982)

2008-02-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

Eyeless In Gaza created one of the best ambient albums of the time with Pale Hands I Loved So Well, though it wouldn't do it justice to call it just an ambient album. Their instrumental vignettes were plunged in a spiritual fervour, and had the quality of fragile bitterwseet contemplations or of metaphysical longing.

"Tall And White Nettles" combines gentle guitar strumming, found sounds and eerie female vocals to great effect. The chamber music of "Blue Distance" is built around mysterious organ-drones, piano ripples, and imperceptible chanting. The mystical dance "Sheer Cliffs", which is half-gypsy and half-Indian, is truly a magical moment. "Falling Leaf/ Fading Flower" is a concerto for brass wails and gentle tones, part free-jazz and part electronic-experiment. "Lies Of Love" is another numinous dance, eventually expanding in a mist of metallic percussion, longing voices and Middle-Eastern brass. Beautiful.

"To Ellen" is possibly the most transcendental moment here; a spectral hymn of haunted organs and sublime vocals by a siren. "Pale Saints" is a fusion of free-jazz and musique concrete. "Letters To She" is an ecclesiastical chant combined with subsonic drones and unsettling electronic effects, culminating in hysterical celestial voices and orchestral ultrasonic frequencies, before finally settling for a pensive tone. This is the soundtrack to man's reincarnation as pure energy in outer space.

In comparison, "Light Sliding" sounds timid and shy, though still deployed like a philosophical reminiscence. Then "Big Clipper Ship" is yet another stunning eclectic moment, partly kosmische, partly European-folk, partly chamber, partly ethereal, partly exotica perscussion, partly militant march, and played in their usual recondite way. A fantastic ending to a fantastic album.

Get it here.

Idaho - year after year (1993)

2008-01-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

Idaho debuted with Year after Year, presenting their take on slowcore/ sadcore. The songs are based on 90's guitar indie, but this is just the springboard for singer Jeff Martin to wallow in his existential alienation, registered with a majestic baritone. "Skyscrape", "Gone", "Here To Go" and almost every song on the album are drenched in a slow motion psychedelic languor, no matter whether they employ heavy guitar distortions ("Gone"), mournful/ pensive acoustics ("Sundown") or even lively rhythms ("One Sunday"). What's more is the emotional power, halfway between drug hallucination and catatonic depression, and dilated to reach a metaphysical apex in songs like "Only Road" and "Endgame".

Another contribution by Nexd (= Kap_). Get it here.