High Priest - “Born Identity ” - [Sound Ink]

Emcee/producer High Priest (ex-Antipop Consortium) drops a version of hip hop that sounds like it was run through a carnival funhouse mirror before we ever got to hear it. But this is no funhouse; not only is it serious???and I do mean serious???it???s seriously weird. Priest delivers an uneasy, paranoid style of rhyming/ talking, bringing a lot of what seems to be futuristic, government-conspiracy subject matter. Are his lyrics good? Hell, I don???t know??? what I like is how the voices are used as just one element in Priest???s dense, crazy scheme of things. The music often sounds like he took a half dozen unrelated records, got some but not all of them synchronized on the beat, and then played them all at the same time. Yeah, it???s good like that; this CD might be setting the new standard for illness in hip hop production/beatmaking. One high point is the mutant loop of cranked-up Afro-jazz on #14.

Sachiko - “You Never Atone For… ” - [Musik Atlach]

On the first two tracks, there is one question: Why did the astronauts
leave that poor Japanese girl alone on the moon? She sings and her songs
mix with the three degrees of drone in the universe before escaping all
gravity and turning into nebulas. On the “Fire Yith”, she has been
placed in some star’s core, and her electronic soul triggers alarm rage.
“Never Go Down Yarai-Zaka” could be Red Riding Hood meeting up with
the space vampires from “Lifeforce”, very nice deep undertones on that.
“Saika” is a sort of solar flare sing-along-with-sinewave that finds
harmony between human and electonics. Lastly “Yama-Keburi” is a simple
four-stroke chord pattern with more man-meets-machine-meets-woman
musical meditation. A lunar rover rumble joins in towards the end
with low frequency beat bleating… Not much evolution on these tracks
or in space, beauty gets sealed in vacuum-tight.
Note this is NOT Sachiko M, but Sachiko from the mighty Overhang Party!

-Thurston Hunger

Haiku Review…
Japanese noise nymph
Contemplates the galaxies
Tones to atone by

Thee More Shallows - “Book of Bad Breaks ” - [Anticon.]

“More Deep Cuts” was a tranquil triumph, this is a more a
rambunctious revelry. Saturated sweetness with synthesizer,
plenty of casiotone for the generally together SF trio. This
album makes me think of steroids, underneath it all I think
the mighty Shallows have a very keen pop sense, but these
tracks get traipsed through some fuzz and muck and even
drum machines, plus those synths oozing all over the place.
It’s a very doctored release, which I can get behind, but it
seems to me that the patient here is so healthy, that
inflating the sound with steroids and inserting rickety
ticking pacemakers is a bit counter-productive? That was my
initial reaction, but with each subsequent listen, I’ve
become more and more addicted to the foreign substances.
Plus I’m a fan of “interlude” tracks…and Thee More Shallows
delivers some intriguing ones that nicely set up the full-on
tracks. Lyrics take left turns even when there’s no left
left. “Mother you were first upon the beach, you stormed the
wake boards and the free bar at Normandy.” Toss in Heston-era
Planet of the Ape references and they are putting the fun in
confusion. Confunsion? Tons of it here, the Shallows run deep;
pros on Anticon, Oxytoxin and digital linseed oil.

-Thurston Hunger

Haiku Review
Hallowed be shallows
Steroid synths bulging the veins
Of sweet pop muscles

Siked Psych : Not Not Fun Gold [coll] - [Not not Fun]

A lot o’ twister being played here. From the more explosive psych to
a couple noisier boys and ending with some femmes and the importance of
singing earnest. Wild and Wilde (Oscar gets namechecked on of these.)
Like a good grab bag, not sure what you’ll get, but glad once you do.

My Little Red Toe: Drums on a tightrope, willowy female vox.
The Wolf Tracks: Unprepared guitar…and musical toy parade
Raccoo-oo-oon: Gamelan gumdrop, flakey guitar, summoning vox, rockshot.
Yuma Nora: Beepy beginnings lead to languid lastings then sprawl
Haunted Castle: Someone’s in the Krankencabinent with Dinah??
Impregnable: Severe mood damage and tire swings
D Yellow Swans: Hover mutter drone an-ti-ci-pay-back?
Bobby Birdman: A Conn job? With guitars from a 70’s hair salon.
Avant R&B? A nicely weird smoothness!! Hard to peg.
Quem Quaeritis: Rune Gram-mofo’s on the hip hop tip? Add scorch sax!
Silver Daggers: Lo-fi, lonely-fi clarinet cries itself to postrock?
Abe Vigoda: Put your angst into a squelchy box, soak in Truman’s Water
Herr K: I’m thinking of Polvo, is that okay?
Goliath Bird Eater: Star Trek Transporter…Energize. Burstiness!
Foot Village: March with no return. Throaty vocal tantrum attitude.
Mika Miko: No-wave, yes-sax.
Child Pornography: Slippery machine gun rock with girl grieking.
BARR: Spalding Grey lives dyed blond. *LANGUAGE**
Hello Astonaut, Goodbye Television: Nasal NASA pop? Squeaky bridge…
Foot Foot: Campfire songs in the TV room?
The Golden Hours: Bedroom casio afghan blanket fortress theme song.
Belly Boat: Girl wants to be a crow/cat over piano/accordian. She
splits into three and harmonizes along with herself.

-Thurston Hunger

Butzer, Jeffrey - “She Traded Her Leg ” - [Lona Records]

Mini-cinematic scores built by Butzer using a host of toy instruments and
an omnipresent accordian. Plus somewhere in the mix is a “tongue drum” !!
Listening to this made me think of people who build miniature houses and
scenarios…maybe too sweet and precious for some, but being a fan of
Pascal Comelade I definitely like the realizations here of Butzer’s
compositions. And like Comelade, the accent is on the *short* and the
sweet…most tracks say their peace in about two minutes. Underscoring a
“silent film” vibe, Butzer even incorporates a train whistlin’ through
“Dendrobium”, that and many other tracks surely bust my Keaton! The
“Carbonated Sewing Machine” is not nearly as effervescent as one might
expect, kinda of a forlorn affair. There are some micro-morose moments
here, “Lucy’s Theme” has a heaviness to it as well. “Broken Blunderbuss”
starts off like a surfy gumball for kids but it stacks up some very
nicely wrong chords by its end. Things take a decidely darker turn by
the time the “Black Bubbles” show up. We’re not in Toyville anymore…

-Thurston Hunger

Haiku Review…
Tinkery plinkers
the toy piano player
Dreams accordians

Wolf Eyes - “Dog Jaw ” - [Heresee]

33 rpm on side A
45 rpm on side B

Recorded in 2004 before Dilloway left the band,
originally on CDR, now on wax! Pure noise from Ann
Arbor, Michigan!

Side A begins with a full leg crunching assualt.
Track 2 is a more itchy growling vocal track,
sometimes sounding as if you’re looking for radio
reception in nowhere land. It closes out with track 3,
promising that yes, your legs WILL be broken.

I’M STUCK IN A FUCKING HELL! It’s where this records
sucks you into. Unfortunetly, track B1 swears. The
second track feels like you’re stuck in the bubbling
pits of foghorn death. The final track tests your
pilot abilities as you soar through the clouds of
feedbacking squarbles. (track has about a minute of
silence at the end).

Robot Vs. Rabbit - “Dos ” - [Squirrelgirl Records]

Dos, as in Spanish for the number 2. Their second
release.
They say it concentrates on the cold war era space
race, the death of Kennedy, and the American dream. A
nice “empty room” feel of experimentaling
avant-garding rock. Some drones, samples, feedbacks
and effects. Each track has that live feeling,
as if it were all done in one take, while they just
felt like jamming out. Drums, guitar, bass - sometimes
that’s all you need! Nice spaced out pysch rock.

The Old Soul-The Old Soul (Friendly Fire)

This is a fun unique mix of lively good time rock and much more. Among my favorites are the jaunty, brassy “P Is For Protein,” a modern ragtime shuffle “Boobie Trap,” modern rock meets 60’s psychedelia of “Take Care & Brush Your Hair,” and a song like a party at the end of a parade, “Shotgun Wedding.” - Shiroi

Denver Gentlemen, The - “Introducing The Denver Gentlemen ” - [Smooch]

This re-release of the Denver Gentlemen???s debut album, recorded live in 1995 at Denver???s Bug Theater, croons its mix of cabaret style male and female vocals laced with accordions as if it were a Bertolt Brecht revival.

Lots o???schmaltz, drama, and catchy melodies.

The band includes Jeffery-Paul Norlander and David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand. Two songs from this album were recorded by 16 Horsepower on the album ???Low Estate???.

Hicks, Kelli Shay - “Buck Again ” - [Carbon Records]

Lonely, wandering tunes.

The unconcerned hum of traffic leading to a little girl voice and naked guitar.

Kelli Shay Hicks??? three song EP, ???Bucked???, is sparse and vocals driven. The EP was recorded by filmmaker Jem Cohen, who, in 2002, produced a 16mm film about Cat Power entitled CAT POWER LIVE: FROM FUR CITY.

Tomorrow No One Will Be Safe [coll] - [Pacrec]

Track 1: Norwegian noise duo Jazzkammer.
Track 2: Boston-based noise artist Howard Stelzer.
Track 3: Jazzkammer and Stelzer together.

Three long tracks, 18 ??? 20 mins each, live recordings from 2004 performances in the USA. All tracks are quite active, constantly moving from one area to the next. These guys compose masterfully with droning guitars, tape manipulation, ringing electronics, feedback, hum, howls, thumps, slurps, low-end roar??? The quietest section is probably the second half of Track 3, where things do settle down a bit, relatively speaking; but other than that you???ll hear the intensity level staying in the medium to medium-loud range. I can???t pick a favorite track; they???re all exciting and very creative.

Ware, David S. Quartet - “Renunciation ” - [Aum Fidelity]

Striking a balance between melodious bop-blues and cacophonous avant-garde (akin to Pharoah Sanders), hard blowing tenor-man Ware is accompanied by his stellar quartet, who at times subtley outshine him, especially the sublime Matthew Shipp on piano. Excellent, also, are longtime quartet member William Parker on contrabass and relative quartet newcomer Guillermo E. Brown on drums. A live recording from 2006, the album is dedicated to jazz greats recently departed from this mortal coil: Alice Coltrane, Dewey Redman, Michael Brecker and (R&B saxophonist) Larry Curtis Potts. Ware enigmatically espouses his Hindu beliefs in the liner notes, no doubt, to the confusion of many.

1. ???Introduction??? (1:51)
2. ???Ganesh Sound??? (8:32) - Nice appetizer.
3. ???Renunciation Suite I??? (18:49) - Main course.
4. ???Renunciation Suite II??? (6:44) ??? ???
5. ???Renunciation Suite III??? (7:21) ??? ???
6. ???Mikuro???s Blues??? (9:15) - Scrumptious dessert.
7. ???Ganesh Sound (reprise)??? (6:40)
8. ???Saturnian??? (3:43)

The rest are garnish.

–Jawbone

Vertonen - “Facing Leinth ” - [Gameboy Records]

Even though it’s listed as 8 seperate tracks, it’s
really one long 59 minute trip through your inner
psychosis, nibbling and suckling your deepest
thoughts and secretive dreams. Serious low grumbling drones
and slight electronic scratches with bits of ear-piercing
slicing stabs. You’ll be dripping with hallucinating
sweat.
At about 29 minutes left, it fades slightly - a good
point to start or stop if you want a shorter
version.

Sterling - “Cursed ” - [File 13]

Many say it’s Chicago’s best avant-garde
instrumental rock group. This being their second release, they
have a whole new line-up change, including pianist
Andy (90 Day Men) on keys, and Al (Milemarker) on
bass. Three long cinematic (beautiful piano)
tracks dabbling in the vein of Red Sparowes and Paik.

Cocorosie-The Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn

This is the third album by sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady. Some of it is like Bjork as a little girl in a scary fairy tale land. Occasional sound of running streams. “Bloody Twins” is eerie folk sung to a music box. “Japan” goes from nursery rhyme style to opera via reggae with great repeated verses “Everybody wants to go to Japan” and ‘Everybody just hold hands.” “Werewolf” has a poetry intro, piano loop and swishing drums. “Animals” includes a shuffling rhythm and bicycle bell. “Houses” is like if Tom Waits’ granddaughter was copying his style, discordant piano, coins dropping. “Girl and the Geese” has a spoken story abut a girl who talks to geese who were once human. Quaint interludes, percussive diddling, other oddness but very clear production. Other sample lyrics: “tears fall in the kitchen sink,” “don’t speak I can hear you,” “covered in piss” etc but it is pretty in addition to sometimes scary and always strange. Anything derivative still in combination adds up to original musical art here. - Shiroi

Sacred Steel Instrumentals [coll] - [Arhoolie Productions]

This is a collection of spiritual steel guitar recordings. 14 pieces done by 10 different artists.This is a much needed spiritual break and will make you stand up and praise your Higher Power. Beautiful pieces heard traditionally and primarily in Southern churches what was a single recording released in 1995 has spawned many soulful spiritually uplifting pieces.Known to mostly the attendee’s of the churches; the beauty of the spirit in these predominantly African American churches is caught so perfectly in these recordings. I highly recommend any and all of these.

Welcome - “Sirs ” - [Fat Cat]

Why isn’t it easier to find albums like this? A consistent pop bopper
that doesn’t try too hard nor is it too lazy (”dude, just use the presets
and that rhyme from the last album”). Bassist Jo Claxton sings on some
numbers with a nice daisy-sewed-on-yer-jeans voice and guitarist Pete
Brand sings on the others with a mighty Mersey urgency! The songs and
the album are short but spot on and leave you wanting more, catchiness
melded with a scratchiness works for me. If they’ve been together for
ten years as I’ve read, I would have expected a more tired release. Of
course I wouldn’t expect Seattle to be so close to Britain, but clearly
this band gets that continental drift. Lyrics seem comfortably left-field
images of Jimmy Stewart, satellite dishes and a cellphone in the bathroom
(if you want to make a law about cellphones, maybe start there before you
take it out of my car). For the less lyrically-inclined there are enough
audio oddities dropped in to keep jaded ears listening, while necks are
snapping along to the freak beats. A nice vox humana at the end of
“Actual Glad”, whistley synth alarm on the title track and then a soft
stumbly coda make that number a sorta siamese twin. “With You With Me”
has a recognizable firebell clang for a few bars. Man, I even thought
I heard a mellotron on “First”. Every track offered something, nothing
wore my Welcome out!

-Thurston Hunger

Spezza Rotto - “Tredici Canzoni ” - [Self Release]

Ruins a la carbonara? Jesus Christ Stomboli-star? Mama mia manic vocalia
from Morgan Guberman. This thing almost gets unhinged enough to turn
into pop, check the choruses on “Gemogli di Gusto Magico” complete with
Gino Robair guesting in the gondola for some mandolino but the verses
have Guberman going gruff and the mighty John Shiurba stutter-slipping
his guitar here and there…eventually fritzing out nicely. Even in the
madder moments, and this album is ripe with them, Eli Crews is a steady
anchor on bass, often doing walking lines that sort of loop back on
themselves. Drummer Tom Scandura, like on the recent Molecules release,
stamps a smile on your face. Listen to his little tick-tick-tick
snaresteps like a cartoon character running off a cliff a few steps
into air on “Rotolare Quie Dadi.” Scandura often perfectly accentuates
the percussive singing of Guberman. This disc is loaded with technique
and with time-signatures from bizzaro land…but there’s also a sense
of playfulness that so many prog bands either aridly avoid, or try to
instill with inept jokiness. Spezza Rotto will curl your mustache a
la Dali, and break the funny bones in your dancing feet. It’s all
sung in Italian, with odd-ball operatic antics a-plenty, probably the
lyrics are authentic, but I almost hope they are mangled the way some
Japanese bands will masterfully mishandle Engrish.

-Thurston Hunger

Isolee - “Hermelin ” - [Playhouse]

Isolee is Rajko Muller, this EP out on Klang Elektronik’s sister label
Playhouse… The side long title track is somehow plush and minimal at
the same time…these taught rubber band bamboo synth sounds, some good
soda pop drum machine clops, a little razor near the ear at times and
every so often a whiff of 2000 Light Years mellotron. Aaaaah. Add some
cool chords splayed out for refreshment and serve this one chilled at
45 rpm.

On the flip side, “Willy Skipper” has a similar vibe to “Hermelin” at
a very different speed…33 rpm. This one is a bit more robotic, with
some droid-blurbs over a nice square-wave step-pattern melody. Percussion
clicks tick up into near-bird chirps, another example of the simple and
the elegant. Drop this one on the catwalk and let it preen a bit, not
as mesmerizing as the lead-off number…but it’s got some drive.

Lastly there is “Sleazy Bee” (sounds like exercise equipment for lazy
folks, or maybe some sort of honey-sweetened smoothie??). This rolls
like an homage to the sorta booty slap techno that never buzzed my
bonnet. But if you want that fat round sound, this one pumps it out
heavy, with kind of egyptian cheese keyboards. Little stacatto lines
dotting the thicker bottom. S’alright, but I’ll be spending my spins
on the first two stellar plinkers.

-Thurston Hunger

Suishou No Fune - “Where the Spirits Are ” - [Holy Mountain]

Hallowed and harrowing Japanese psych sprawl. This release features a
sort of secret drum death…the lead-off track is a Mainlining masher
with prominent pummelling by Tail, bombast is the favorite flavor on
this one. Vocals are culled out from the center of the chaos…long
extended wails, shamanic. On the second piece, drummer Tail finds peace
gently keeping the kit to a heavy reverbed series of drifting chords,
again voices wail, doppler drops in a well of soul sorrow. The piece
picks up fury, but never pace…his and her guitarists fuel the fire
with their pyrotendencies. We move to track three and Kageo (his)
and Pirako Kurenai (her) have worked their Tail off. The drums are
gone and so now it is really a different album (from a different live
date). Like a less rainy, more molten Loren Mazzacane hurricane. Track
#3 is a sort of descent into darkness. Throughout this release, the
vocals, offered by both guitarists, are haunting *and* haunted. As if
the demons are trying to break out of the singer, and into you. And
remember demons love reverb! While the songs spend most of their time
in the twin torrents of guitar and vocal exortation, the actual
melodies that they are launched from have a billowing beauty. Check
#5 and #2. Track #4’s underlying vibe is like a slow breathing flamenco.
Those sections of melody are like the smooth, less wind-whipped side of
a mountain, but in general Suishou no Fune prefer scaling the more
ragged, adventurous side of that same mountain.

-Thurston Hunger

Band name translates as “Holy Bridge” or so I read…