Range Rats, The - “Range Rats” - [Mississippi Records]

Touted as a mix or punk and country, and born from a mid 80’s
tour panning for coin in Nevada mining towns, it’s hard to
resist the post Rats/pre-Dead Moon duo wearing reverb boots
and pulling six-string reins. To me, these songs felt more
like lost 1950-60’s era TV western soundtracks than country
per se. “Honky Tonk” nails a Rawhide-like solo to the swinging
doors. “Over the Gun” rides a boxcar of surf. Broken bottle
saloon slide guitar cuts in on “Prison Train.” Toody’s coyote
harmony yelp never sound better. Her torch on the trail work
on “Lonely” is beauty. Fred churns out sturdy riffs. These two
just have that sacred fire, if you try and play with it too
much, you become Deadbolt (not necessarily a bad thing.) Meanwhile
rolling, Roland?, rolling with the Range Rats was Rollie, a
defective deputy of a drum machine! Catch Rollie on the last
two tracks which were added for this release culled from tapes
on the trail. I preferred the human rhythm tracks, even though
they feature prohibition drums and dry cymbals. The fantastic
paperback pulp cover captures the music better than these words.
Play ‘em high…

-Thurston Hunger

Ichiyanagi, Toshi/Ranta, Michael/Kosugi, Takehisa - “Improvisation Sep. 1975″ - [Phoenix Records]

Recorded September 26th, 1975 at NHK Studio. A product of Music
Liberation Center Iskra. A pretty sparse, and yet full
release. Two 20+ minute meditations that might have been
split at the hip trip. There’s bells that sound like they get
curved, there’s clicky and deep clacky percussion. Never
combusting, just scratching. It starts with some voice intoning…
you could tell me this was a Shinto ritual and I’d buy it.
Flutey whispers, piano resonance. The sonic shadows here
run long, harmonica makes an appearance but it’s not riding
a railroad. Kosugi helped launch the Taj Mahal Travelers,
(and take a spin on his Catch-Wave lp at KFJC!) Ranta was a percussionist
with Stockhausen connections, and Ichiyanagi slept with
John Cage and worked with Yoko Ono, or vice versa, but he’s
still active on tha avant scene. Trying to analyze this work
seems to detract from it, but somehow there’s a very solid
center to this austere collaboration. It has the same kind of
haunting flare that the Necks releases do in my ear.

-Thurston Hunger

Block, Olivia & Bruckman, Kyle - “Teem” - [and/OAR]

Block and Bruckman collaborated and collected recordings for several years resulting in this 4-track release. Noteworthy for the very skillful merging of field recordings and musical instruments. Varies from high pitched and painful to soothing and minimal. Sounds are disguised, but might be from trains, animals scratching, squeaky swings in an empty playground, ocean surf, industrial noises.

More info here: http://www.and-oar.org/pop_either_4.html

PGM: Wide dynamic range, watch sound levels.

Alpine, Frank - “Frank Alpine Keyboard Cassette” - [Self Release]

Rich T. Moreno is Frank Alpine, the composer and producer of the spooky synth tracks on this CD, which were originally recorded on cassette in 2000. Tracks 9-20 are ???Bedtime stories for the mute,??? starting off with the sounds of machinery (washing machines?) and leading into more melodic, eerie pieces that keep the whirring theme from the machine. Tracks 5 and 8 are more accessible. This minimalistic weirdness is right up KFJC???s alley.

Marclay, Christian - “Graffiti Composition” - [Dog w/a Bone]

Collaboration between vinyl abuser Christian Marclay, musical director Elliott Sharp, and a small ensemble of NY’s coolest avant-garde electric guitarists. The concept: Marclay posted thousands of pages of blank sheet music all over Berlin, for people to write on/draw on/ vandalize. He then retrieved them and used a selection of them to create a musical score (hence the title “Graffiti Composition” and the CD coming out under Marclay’s name.) Sharp plays his custom guitarbass and guides the other players Lee Ranaldo, Mary Halvorson, Vernon Reid, and Melvin Gibbs, through the piece. The unusual sheet music is interpreted with squiggles, flurries, and roars. Nobody is trying to upstage anybody else. Awesome job by all concerned. Recorded live at NY’s MOMA in 2006.

Moonhearts - “Moonhearts” - [Tic Tac Totally]

On their brand new 2010 debut full-length, the California-based Moonhearts (they used tto be called “Charlie and the Moonhearts”) deliver delightful garagy, lo-fi rock, with a twinge of surf (especially on “Deathstar”). Recorded in San Francisco by Eric Bauer and Ty Segall, it’s fuzzy fun for a generation raised with MP3s and ear buds or for an older generation nostalgic for transistor and AM radio.

Sissy Spacek - “Glass” - [Misanthropic Agenda]

The live lineup of Sissy Spacek includes Jesse Jackson, John Wiese and Corydon Ronnau. Two long tracks on this 2008 release. Both live, one in LA and one up here in San Francisco. The title is very appropriate to this, as both tracks sound as if someone attached a mic to a recycling trash can. Smashing, thrashing, clinking and pure destruction of glass, bottles and anything fragile. The shattering of glass is a unique sound, can often be beautiful on its own, so adding in the jet engine electronics along with it creates a real treat. Mildly harsh. Limited edition of 300 copies.

Pulse Emitter - “Cosmic Images” - [Expansive]

Daryl Groetsch is the man behind Pulse Emitter, hailing from Portland. Pulse Emitter definitely makes my favorite type of outer space electronic ambience. Twinkling stars, pulsing strobes and galaxy broadening drones. This release he seems to play a lot with the synth, sometimes getting a little on the new agey side, but never quite there, making it totally listenable. I could space out to this while gazing at the stars, for sure. Love when he drops in the ‘Logans Run’ sounding icicle trickling sound (track 2) and the “computer of the future” sounds (track 3). Outer space comet rides.

Gnome & Spybey - “At Willie’s Place” - [Tourette]

Gnome & Spybey is a duo of Tony D’Oporto and Mark Spybey, from Texas & England. Very mellow, electronic ambience with a touch of reflection. Some have soft male vocals, almost on the line of My Bloody Valentine-ish, but most are instrumental. Laptop musicians. This is excellent early morning fog music, to gaze out the window at the fluttering butterflies. Chirping birds, wavering tones, fluttering “flute” sounds, ethnic vibes, and humble buzzes. Very atmospheric!

Big Blood - “Dead Songs” - [Time-Lag Records]

This is the first full length album from the project Big Blood. The duo is out of South Portland, Maine and are involved with the projects Cerberus Shoal, Threads and Fire on Fire. The duo of Caleb Mulkerin and Colleen Kinsella had a baby together, left Cerberus Shoal and Big Blood was born. This album is called Dead Songs. When I first put it on my boyfriend said that it made him want to kill himself and he works at a funeral home. He made the observation without seeing the cover, knowing the name of the album or song titles (Curtain Call, Lay Your Head on the Rails, etc.) Undeniably, the melancholy on this release is palpable, but it is also hauntingly beautiful. Colleen’s vocals have been compared to the likes of Coco-Rosie and Joanna Newsome but although high pitched I find her vocals less grating. Occasionally Caleb also comes in with vocals which at times seem like he is channeling Neil Young. Freak folk, fuzzed-up garage folk anthems, psychedelia with a country tinge. Accordion on Curtain Call. Also worth mentioning is the packaging a gorgeous full color 60s style gatefold cover with clear varnish overprinting, large offset printed vellum insert, full color art labels, etc. pressed on the highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl. Pressed in a limited edition of 700 copies.

Space Rangers, The - “Ready to Take Off” - [Kamikaze Records]

The Space Rangers are from Ulm, Germany and were the big buzz band at the Surf Guitar 101 Convention in 2010, both for their terrific music and their fun stage presence.?? This CD does not disappoint, some tracks lean toward rock or even Spaghetti Western or Spy soundtracks but most are excellent surf. ?? Addition of organ to bass/guitar/percussion produces a solid wall of sound - try Track 1 for a fine example.

Fun facts:?? Ulm was the birthplace of Albert Einstein and is situated on the river Danube.

Cheer-Accident - “Fear Draws Misfortune” - [Cuneiform]

As they approach their 30th anniversary, it’s nice to see that this Chicago band remains as baffling and confounding as ever. And good. Their sound is dense, tense, and often dissonant; a sort of jazzy prog-rock that reminds me somewhat of Henry Cow, if HC had been less good-natured. The two or three guys currently comprising the band -there have been more than a few personnel changes over the years- play a whole raft of instruments among them, and this time they bring along a large roster of guests on horns, woodwinds, violin, cello, and vocals. Expect a big bold sound, with unpredictable changes in musical direction, ambitious arrangements, and really good musicianship.

Miss Massive Snowflake - “Miss Massive Snowflake” - [North Pole Records]

An out-of-print gem from 2006, on a little 3-inch CD. Three unpretentious songs about family, lovers, and animals by Portland’s Shane de Leon, who has got to be one of the most down-to-earth singer/ songwriters you’re likely to hear. Nylon-string guitar and vocals appear on every song, with Shane and collaborator Kathrine Siefert adding other instruments (keyboards, horns, bass, percussion, electric stuff) to round out the sound. Heartfelt and nice.

Carlos, Wendy (Walter) - “Switched-on Bach II” - [CBS Records /Columbia]

“SOB-II” is a 1974 sequel to “SOB”, the 1968 release of historic significance in the annals of electronic music. According to Wendy Carlos’s website, using the Electone E-5 organ allowed her to add polyphony lacking in the Moog synthesizer at the time. I would guess that in 1974 there was still a lot of tweaking required to produce this quality of sound.

Some of the tracks (for example, the 2-part inventions) sound rather wooden and a bit lacking in articulation and dynamics - perhaps that was just Carlos’ choice of interpretation. Other tracks are quite lovely - the Brandenburg #5 is remarkable in its distinctive sounds for different instruments and a rich sound for synthesizing an orchestral work.

Interesting liner notes from Robert Moog primarily pertain to the first SOB release. KFJC’s copy is the vinyl release from the 1970’s, not the CD with cleaned up audio released in 2002.

Wadadli Riders - “Made In Antigua” - [Green Cookie Records]

Lorenzo & Nicoletta Valdambrini moved to the Caribbean Island of Antigua a few years ago from Italy and claim that the Wadadli Riders is the first and only surf band ever to originate from the Caribbean. Rich, warm, high energy authentic surf sounds with a difference - is it an Italian or tropical influence? No matter, this very well produced 12″ vinyl sounds better every time I hear it.

Fun facts: Wadadli is an old name for Antigua. Lorenzo produces the very popular Surfer Joe surf music festival in Italy. Are only beautiful women allowed to play bass in surf bands?

Street Gnar - “Street Gnar” - [Eggy]

Out of Lexington, Kentucky come the rock sounds of Street Gnar. I don???t know much about it, but it looks like it???s just one guy. Guitar,d bubbly sound effects, sometimes echoing vocals, along with some percussion create a nice space for listening. Track 3 features gentle strumming with children???s voices in the background. There???s also a psyche vibe going on which I liked. Track 6 has some droniness.

Grass Wido - “Past Time” - [Kill Rock Stars]

Enticing, discordant harmonies combine with killer bass and drums to make this San Francisco-based female trio???s first release on Kill Rock Stars a keeper. Plenty of pure pop/surf rock energy abounds in these upbeat songs that end unapologetically. Put it this way: It???s easy to listen to this again and again, especially if you???re driving no a sunny day.

Puffy Areolas - “Rock N Roll Express” - [Die Stasi]

Ohio players piercing the nipple of rock power. Dusty on bass just
eats up songs like Evel Knievel, while drummer beats the living daylights
of anyone who comes close to him, which is probably why they have
three guitarists to cover the collateral damage. The title track spends
a little time mounting up, with some effect driven fuzz chugging, then
in comes Krauty the vocalist (like Frosty the Snowman?!?!) anyways he
starts singing with numchuks screaming out of his tonsils. He ducks in
time to miss the synth sprays that take this track out to a warp speed
death. On the flip, songs spark quicker but still pull no punches…
“$200 Jeans” get ripped to shreads, again the shrill shrieking of Krauty
over some molten neanderthal rock, but before he screams, there is this
sort of flash-forward pre-echo vox that sound like a video arcade game
in Hades. Feedback at the end joins at the hip of the next song, tracking
right into “Teen Scene Cream” which proves again that two chords + infinite
energy will get the job done. Downright, sixy band.

-Thurston Hunger

Curran, Alvin - “Under The Fig Tree” - [Die Schachtel]

Two side-long pieces from last century. The title track starts with
birds and the bees, or maybe it is a damn fly in the ointment of your
inner ear, and then waves of synth come pouring. Very much a “dervish”
feel a la Terry Riley. Interesting that this was originally written
for t-bone. Speeds of the waves vary, as may your level of sartori.
Or it could be a function of the tapes used for overdubbing? The
insects, as in life suspect, are there before and after man.

On the flip side, “The Magic Carpet” may need to be set up for the
listener. It is a living room of sorts, spider-strung with not-necessarily
tuned strings. Add in chimes and contact mics for effect. It was
a 1970 sound installation, and would be a wonder at Chapel of the
Chimes in Oakland. On disk, the more the listener puts in, the more
s/he will pull out I suspect. Too bad there’s no video to see the
setting off of the sound, was it a subtle walk through or a
tasmanian devil spin. At one point the sound to me blurred and felt
like the white (grey?) noise of a traffic jam. One would hope the
Magic Carpet would be able to elevate above that.

-Thurston Hunger

Beta Collide - “Psst…psst!” - [Innova/American Composers]

Molly Barth (eighth blackbird) on flute, Brian McWhorter (Meridian Arts Ensemble) on trumpet, David Riley on piano and celeste, Phillip Patti on percussion.

Very lovely and original range of sounds from composer Gyorgy Ligeti to Thom Yorke and Colin Greenwood of Radiohead.

3WR: New classical virtuosity.