The Mae Shi ??? HLLLYH A-Library CD {Team Shi}

Six snapped up polychromic puzzle pieces outta L.A. who paint by numbers but colors outside the lines on HLLLYH.?? Like Rubik???s Cube, the solution to their experimental conundrum of kaleidoscopic pop, punk dynamics & blustering rainbow electronics may take some time to fully compute & solve, but that???s half the fun.?? Frantic bouts of mild-Tourettes shrieking & deliriously extreme sing along harmonies soar over bubbling joy buzzer noisemakers, keyboard whimsy & tuneful digital synth splendor.?? Frisky bass licks, mischievous drum roll spasms & manic panic attack guitar seizures.?? Sounds like an unconventional disco punk video game romp into xBxRx vs. Numbers insanity plus Hawnay Troof vs. Panda Bear vocal savvy. ??This is bright-eyed suburban silliness run amok & it rocks tremendously.?? Score another one for Team Shi!????

Bum Kon ??? Drunken Sex Sucks A-Library CD {Smooch}

Three bands epitomized the Denver ealy 80???s punk & hardcore scene, The Frantix, White Trash and Bum Kon.?? Bum Kon (named after a South Korean mass murdering police officer run amok) were 4 teenaged fast friends who played pummeling, super charged aggressive & punchy ass, fuck you punk in the vein of Circle Jerks, Descendents, Black Flag, T.S.O.L. Minor Threat, Husker Du & Los Olvidados.?? Songs compiled here were recorded by local legend Bob Febrache and features their most rippin??? hard hitting singles.?? Ranges from politically charged, maniacally fast shredding to insultingly edgy mid tempo punk rock.?? A supped up sound overall with a Keith Morris / Milo Ankermann vocal kick and six alternate takes to close out.?? Some cuts here also on the Local Anesthetic comp!?? Ka-Boom!!!??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????LANGUAGE: # 2, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 20, 22, 24

Atmosphere ??? When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold {Rhymesayers}

Atmosphere warms things up on this storyteller???s groove about life???s hard lessons. This Minneapolis hip hop duo (Slug rappin??? & Ant bumpin??? tha beats) dropped this sizzlin??? new album that was hot enough to get Tom Waits to offer his beat box skills!?? Ant seems keeps it simple and alternately sweet & sinister when necessary.?? Strong beats & a live band to back it up with funk, 80???s style synths, some sad country flavor, soft guitar balladry, chirping flute toots, pensive vibes & piano, creepy Spanish style acoustic strums & overall catchy hooks.?? Slug???s smooth confident delivery encompasses his reflections on life???s hard times & tryin??? to turn it around, dealing with personal demons, relationship woes, and alcohol & drug addiction.?? His flow is smart & effortless with refreshing appeal.?? This doesn???t hit you over the head as classic or anything but it is a solid, versatile & pleasing release.?? ALL TRACKS CLEAN

Religious Knives ??? Resin {No Fun Productions}

Four believers got the Holy Spirit from shoving a shiv or two into the Brooklyn, N.Y. underground.?? They seem to love cats too although unlike the Ancient Egyptians, no religious significance is tied to their feline friends.?? And no, they don???t cut ???em up either.?? Are you fucking stoopid?!?? Anyways, so these tracks were lifted from earlier vinyl & cd-r limited runs plus some previously unreleased material.?? These are expansive, dark & percussive pieces around 6 to 10 minutes each.?? Very heavy, repetitiously ongoing, slow, edgy, ominous, stoney, pulsing, tonal, fuzzed out, droning, mangled, jarring, groovin??? experimental psych jams that has them shifting from electronics to synths, bass & organ based ???rock.????? The sound is spacious with some jazzier fusion drum styles, sustained organ tones and plodding rhythms plus some buried yet powerful vocal laments.?? Ceremoniously well done.?? Trip on this if you???re heavy into Grails, Paik, Neurosis, Skullflower, Om, or Sunn O))).

King Kong Compilation, The [coll] - [Mango / Island Records]

A 1981 Mango LP with selections from Leslie Kong’s Beverly’s label, produced in Jamaica from the late 60s up until 1971, when Kong died of heart failure (some say due to a curse placed by Peter Tosh over some bad business with Kong early in the Wailer’s career). These are tracks from the dawn of reggae (”Israelites” being among the first US/UK reggae hits), with little of the Rasta ethics that we would be hearing later, although there’s some talk of social movements. Mostly, driving beats are the business of the day here, with less of the overt American R&B influence heard in the earlier Rock Steady style. Some of these tracks have been over-anthologized (the 2 Desmond Decker tracks, The Melodians’ “Rivers of Babylon”) but there are enough less-heard hits here like The Maytals’ “Peeping Tom” and Ken Boothe’s “Freedom Street” to justify this addition to KFJC’s bulging reggae stacks. And a couple of tracks were issued for the first time on this collection, including an instrumental from session pianist Ansell Collins, best known in the US for his 1971 hit “Double Barrel” when he was part of the duo, Dave & Ansell Collins.

Portland Bike Ensemble - “s/t ” - [Self-Released]

A homemade-looking release, packaged in a plain, folded-up piece of red construction paper. PBE are guys who amplify their bicycles and play the metal frames, spokes, chains, wheels, handlebars, brakes, etc. as instruments. Here we have them performing one long 26-minute piece, recorded live, divided into two untitled sections (16 mins and 10 mins) with applause in between. Creative sounds from PBE, and mostly not bike-like at all. For example, more than once I thought I was hearing jungle noises, with a wide variety of creatures grunting, squeaking, and roaring, all at the same time. Overall, this is quite a trip and well worth exploring. Note: at around 2:30 on the first piece, somebody says “here it comes!” on the mic for some reason, and while that intrusion briefly sidetracks the momentum, it is soon forgotten. I couldn’t say whether or not this CD/R is actually available to anyone, but PBE sent it to us and we’re adding it. If you want one of these CD/Rs for yourself, try writing to PBE. Maybe they’ll wrap one up in red construction paper just for you.

Winters In Osaka - “Orchids ” - [One Sock]

This band comprised of Adam Jennings & Erik Stanis
hail from Chicago. Some of their past collaborations
have included Cock ESP & Weasel Walter. Pedals, tape
manipulation, mandolins, guitars, keyboards, drum
machines… pushes you to the limit with electronic
thumps and scratches. It’s like you’re leaning over
the edge on one foot, but you don’t fall. Anxious and
itchy. Harsh and noisy. Experimental thrash, at
harshest times: Merzbow-like. Slower times it feels
like field recordings of shit being plugged in and
tested. Excellent!

Retolt Mandala - “SF Munou Kokyobutsu ” - [Dolor Del Estamago]

First album from this “Tokyo avant chaotic art band”.
Nobu Kasahara seems to be the leader, with a few
others making it happen. Loose, skittering, abstract
types of psych-improv. Vocals every now and then, but
more behind the music. Apparently a few tracks are
live, track 6 being a pretty bad recording, ha!
Guitars, drums, cymbal crashes, electronics. Lots of
scrwarbling noisy electronics going on.

Un Festin Sagital - “Epitafio a La Permanencia ” - [Beta-lactum Ring Records]

A unique and interesting band out of Santiago, Chile.
Mixing drifty guitars, distorted rumbles,
electro-acoustic sounds, some prog rock elements,
spaced out organs, random quarbled (Ruins style)
vocals, dark singing, light proggy singing, and
traditional music (warped circus sounds to acoustic
guitars). Even some flute, didgeridoo and sax! Feels
like Pink Floyd of South America mixed with a dash of
The Legendary Pink Dots and a sprinkle of every
circuit bending artist out there at times with the
long floating random shifting tracks. Really cool
shit. Each track is super unique from the other.

Chop Shop ??? Oxide {23 Five}

Oxide is processed & digitized CD release of once extremely damaged and now reconstructed analog tape sources.?? This is the droning, air thrusting, spooky dull humming, white noise drifting & ever shifting masterpiece re-created by Chop Shop (a.k.a. Scott Konzelmann) and released through creative sounds & noise label, 23 Five.?? Oxide is noise but not overly chaotic though it does have several prolonged moments that???ll swallow you up.?? It relies mostly upon the oxygenated sounds compounded with other strange sonic elements.?? This is one long brooding track reconfiguring archived recordings sullied & soaked by moisture damage and turning a corrosive mess into a masterful soundscape.?? Chop Shop delivers gurgles, hisses, drop outs and slow fade ins, vacuous sucking, crackling, rumblings, eerie hollow moans, increasingly intense pitchy air flows & frequencies almost akin to a whistle which alternates & reverses randomly.?? A spooky experience one you must ride out to the end!

Meat Beat Manifesto ??? Autoimmune {Metropolis}

Jack Dangers is the only original Meat Beat member.?? This is his latest MBM effort out on Metropolis known for industrial dance, synthpop and darkwave.?? Dangers is working alongside video / visual whiz Ben Stokes, Mark Pistel (both Tino Corp associates) and Lynn Farmer pulling live drum duty.?? This was recorded at Tapelab (Jack Danger???s studio?) and Mark Pistel???s Room 5 in S.F.?? Definitely didn???t foresee this coming out on Metropolis but it does have a rather edgy darkness to it.?? Some really nice breakbeat electronica sewn up with spacey effects, semi-obscure video samples and phat low end dub grooves with some toaster flavor.?? Dangers even sings on one cut but then it???s back to the tripped out nocturnal dub rhythms, experimental upbeat hip hop styled bass bombasts, and scratched up vinyl cuts (some by DJ Z-Trip).?? Also features rapper Azeem (who hangs with DJ Zeph).?? This is slammin??? thick, freak funky goodness from MBM showin??? they still got 20 years later!

FCC: 8 (FUCK)

Foot Village ??? Friendship Nation {Tome}

Vehemently aggressive foul mouthed freaks shrieking outta Culver City.?? Animalistic outcries & cymbal obliterating drum destruction.?? It isn???t always a full thrashy onslaught, ???cause they take time outs to build terrific tension using tom wallops and undulating rhythms.?? But surer than shinola they start going ape-shit lickety-split without warning.?? This is a heavyweight steel cage kick boxing match striking your face into the mat.?? Three man-imals & a jugular ripping jungle mistress executing this entire rhino stomping deal with almost nothing but drums & screams, though some cuts have trippy effects.?? Quirky darker remixes from some favorite S.F., N.Y. and L.A. folks too including Tussle, Big A little a, Robedoor, and Silver Daggers.?? Dig this if you get off on Coughs, Health, Pre, and Robin Williams on Fire (whose guitarist is nude on the front cover)!

FCC: 1 (FUCK), 3 (PEE PEE), 4 (FUCK), 5 ??(FUCK), 6 (FUCK), 8 ( FUCK), 10 (FUCK) 11 (FUCK)

NO MUSIC ON: 9

[coll]: Organ Standards- Loachfillet / IDM Theftable {Beniffer Editions}

Obsessive organ oddities that is anything but standard.?? Experimental electronic obscurities containing actual theatre organ music circa 1950???s mixed with obtuse & messed up samples, rumblings & effects. Kitschy & crazy & avant spooky, haunted ghostly & fuckin??? out n??? out weird.?? The perfect soundtrack for a Halloween misadventure.?? Growls, howls, strange songs??? it???s a fucked phantasmagoric fantasy island set to eerie organ tones.?????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????~ Guy Montag

Loachfillet:?? West Coast solo anomaly.?? Count Loachfillet???s sound structures are the sort of thing that occurs when you dissect Quintron???s Frog Tape, Rosa Rio???s horror picture theatre organ & the Phantom of the Opera and reconstruct them into a horrific ungodly monster meant to roam the filthy sewers or tend to overgrown bats & spiders in a deep dank cave.

NO BAD LANGUAGE ON THIS CD!

IDM Theftable:?? East Coast stag entity.?? Ever stranger organ audacities.?? Zany little sings songs & raps, abrupt stops, skips & fluctuations in sounds.?? Some weird ass sequential counting cut ups in a glitchular noisy atmosphere.?? Lotsa loops & echo plus nonsensical mutterings & such.?? Odd playful spazzy interludes.?? Pretty fucked up.

FCC ON #5!!!!

Harmonia - “Live 1974 ” - [Water]

A short lived (1973-76), but amazing band comprised of
Micheal Rother, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim
Roedelius (Kraftwerk, Cluster, Neu! mixed together!)
This was performed at a small club, formerly a railway
station, in Germany to a crowd of about 50 people.
Luckily there’s no annoying applause to kill your high
during this 58 minute ambient electronic outer space
performance. Rother believes everyone was stoned,
which is how this makes you feel - very relaxed and
non-existent. Looping repetativeness, krauty beats,
synths, organs, pianos, tripped out guitar. Check out
the liner notes and photos for all their gear!

Wizard Prison:

This is the debut from Ben McAllister(Degenerate Art Ensemble, Listen Faster, composer)??- magic brain, Scott Colburn(Producer worked with Cerebrus Shoal, Animal Collective,??others)??- magic mind, and John Vallier(?) - magic thought. Samples, synthesizer(?), drums, guitar, bass, and layers of melodic and heavy stop/starts(track 2)??weave the magic here. The concept of this disc is centered around a mythical future leader named Gogon, who has a vision to lead his people. Where? and to what? Well, let the music take you there.

Robin Williams On Fire: Jungle Gym of Crucifixes 7″

They’re a quartet of boys claiming to hail from Thizzlam, CA. This 7″ was??Mastered by Weasel Walter of the Flying Lutenbachers. These guys were apparently trying to get on the Fall Out Boy ticket a year ago, maybe to destroy the sellout scene.??The??are poised to??erupt??with jolting changes from rough guitar shards flying through the air of hot and angry screams. There is no dampening or any thing watered down. This is thrashing and angular in all the right places,??from that spot you can’t get to??in your shoulders to that kink in your neck. The track list was not??easy to come??by. I recognized two tracks from their myspace page. They are also in the follwong bands:??sich shifter, turd sorcerer, destroy tokyo, cobra bubbles (tape on Teenage Whore Tapes available), and jenkem.

[coll]: Ethiopian Soul and Groove ??? Ethiopian Urban Modern Music Vol. 1 {L???arome Productions / Buda Musique}

Whoa!?? The sheer stunning urban flare & flavor of Ethiopian soul grooves circa the late 60???s & early 70???s!?? These are cuts selected straight outta the Ethiopiques series and they are damn hot!?? A solid soul funky groove on the A-Side and a bit more mellow jazz atmosphere on the B-side.?? The heavy funk side o??? things traps this vibrant organ humming, horn blaring, bass bumping ripple effect that sparks like a live wire.?? The jazzier sessions still gets that organ pumping & saxophone jive jumping.?? It???s funny because you catch these odd wah guitar lines, floating flute melodies and drum syncopations that draw on a Western vibe but they tweak it with this sorta folky pop Ethiopian style, serving it up fresh.?? Love these vivacious vinyl only vittles!

Perry, Lee ??? Megaton Dub {Hot Pepper Productions}

King Tubby might reign supreme as the crown King o??? Dub but the wild & wacky Lee Perry is a dub master magician. ??The Upsetter, Pipecock Jaxxon (a.k.a Lee ???Scratch??? Perry) takes roots & rocksteady rhythms and detonates them megaton dubs.?? Mostly instrumental dubs composed and produced by Perry though harmonious lyrics do shine through on several cuts too.?? This is tripped out, stoney with spacey echoes mixed up into this shebang. ??Drippy wet reverb saturates the slow swaying steady grooves set for a sunset spliff.?? Chilled out vibes with occasionally experimental drum trips and phat rounded bassline bliss just strolling on down the street all casual.?? No misses on this.?? Dubtastic Megaton Blast!

Poetics, The - “Critical Inquiry In Green ” - [Compound Annex]

Mike Kelley (Destroy All Monsters) and Tony Oursler
reunited in 1997 to make this recording to coincide
with the opening of the Poetics Project installation
at Document X. Creepy minimal dark Throbbing
Gristle-ish music with dead-pan spoken human vocals.
Computerized vox (think Stephen Hawking) comes in on
select tracks. I imagine a Crispin Glover type fellow
doing a drug-induced spoken word night in a dark
red-lit dungeon, smoke filled and raining of course.
Sounds like a bad acid trip. Really awesome!

Axolotl/Inca Ore [coll] - [Arbor]

Axolotl’s two tracks are electronic loopy drone-outs.
Very short, if you don’t catch the break it sounds
good as one piece. I think there’s violin in there
also.
Inca Ore sounds like a creepy little girl telling a
whispering ghost story in the land of OZ. Harp
included. Both sides excellent!