KFJC 89.7FM

Music Reviews

Mother Fucking Ragweed – “Bones and Caskets” – [Diarrhea 666]

SlartiBartfast   4/1/2025   12-inch, A Library

MOTHER FUCKING RAGWEED (MF RAGWEED)- “Bones and Caskets” – 2022

This is a 2022 release from San Jose’s own MF RAGWEED. Recorded in the early 2000’s this local metal, doom metal, hardcore outfit brings tasty offerings to tickle and delight your rotting corpse. Fifteen tracks on two 140g slabs of vinyl bring driving rhythms, heavy guitar licks, and lyrics from beyond the grave. After languishing in a vault for nearly 20 years all tracks were mixed and remastered in 2020-21, and released in 2022. An excellent release from local legends, your senses will not be disappointed. Come into the crypt and get ya some!

Howard, Rosetta – “1937-1939” – [Earl Records]

olygark   3/31/2025   12-inch, Blues

Here’s a collection from blues singer Rosetta Howard, recorded with several swing bands.  She doesn’t have the power of earlier blues singers such as Bessie Smith, or the phrasing of her contemporary Billie Holiday but that doesn’t stop you from moving your feet to these dance numbers. Side one accompanists include Joe McCoy who was given the name Kansas Joe McCoy when he went to NYC to record with his wife at the time, Memphis Minnie.  Side two has dance band veterans Charie Shavers, Henry “Red” Allen, and Barney Bigard contributing to the swing.

James, Elmore – “Something Inside of Me” – [Fire Records]

olygark   3/31/2025   12-inch, Blues

This 3 LP collection of Elmore James studio recordings, released in 1985, were captured from 1959 to 1963.  Elmore is backed by at least five different bands, including the Broom Dusters with Johnny Jones on piano, and Odie Payne on drums. Elmore’s slide playing and picking is a constant source of enjoyment. Some of the tracks had not been previously released. For this collection my favorite track always seemed to be the last one I heard.

Craven Faults – “Bounds” – [The Leaf Label Ltd.]

Rock Dove   3/26/2025   12-inch, A Library

Our 3rd release from the mysterious Craven Faults, an anonymous project out of the Yorkshire region named for a system of fault lines in the Pennine Hills. As with Enclosures and Standers, the record features stark B&W imagery of landforms that fit exactly with the sound. Modular synthesizers and a well-blended layer of trombone on the B-side. Minimalist and repetitive, easy to zone out to. Nothing really happens on a human scale.  It’s analog electronic analgesic. This won’t ruin your day or save your life. It’ll gently stimulate your necrotic, a-fibbin heart, almost to 100 BPM, for 4-18 minutes, life support to complete your ultimate set.

Bolis Pupul – “Letter To Yu” – [DEEWEE]

aarbor   3/25/2025   12-inch, A Library

Bolis Popul is from Ghent, Belgium. This is his first full length release. The songs touch on some of life’s big themes – memory, loss, family and coming to terms and making peace with all of that. You hear his European (Dad) and Asian (Mom) roots, alongside the overarching presence of the twin American pillars of Detroit Techno and Chicago House. The sound is appealing and inventive. Don’t miss. AArbor

n.b. One of his best tracks “Frogs” is not on this vinyl release, which is a shame because it’s one of his best tracks. You can find it on the Bandcamp (digital) version.

Closetjudas – “Syzygy” – [Self-released]

Isotope   3/25/2025   A Library, CD

Every album needs one or two words to sum it up and this one’s is “epic.” But maybe the second word is “resistance.” Closetjudas is Mike Powell, based near Winnipeg, Canada, and Syzygy is a blanket title for three albums worth of tracks of low-fi indie rock showcasing jangly guitars, and complicated, literate lyrics. The albums together tell a science fiction story of a world with an oppressive ruling class and their dictatorial leader, and an underclass abused by them and its resistance movement. The tracks include the full-length albums titled Lunacy and the Second Naiveté (2019) and Sonder (2024), which open and close Syzygy, and most of an album titled Entelechy (2022) forming the middle of the trilogy,. For me, the tracks from the last album, Sonder, are the clearest statement of resistance to oppression. The storyline is sometimes puzzling, but the album is an epic statement about history and human behavior.

C’mon Tigre – “TEN” – [Computer Students]

Isotope   3/25/2025   12-inch, A Library

Mysterious, beautiful, ferocious—that’s a tiger. You know: “Tiger, tiger burning bright, in the shadow of the night…”? Same can be said of this album, formally titled Ten. It is a rerelease of C’mon Tigre’s first album from 2013, which was originally self-titled. This one comes in an attractive package with a double LP and lovely cover art. The music is influenced by styles that include all “the usual suspects” like jazz, funk, experimental, and improvisation, and especially, a strong Middle Eastern influence. Some tracks are instrumental, some are wordless vocals, some are songs. Time signatures get very complicated in these tracks. The band is a duo (maybe from Italy?) with many collaborating musician friends. The songs are about Tunisian football (meaning, of course, soccer), the fall of society, birds, bears, monkeys, tigers, and many other living creatures, and mysterious, difficult to understand things. If you have the double LP, read the three stories in the 10-page insert with their flashes of surrealist imagery. A great album full of songs to ponder and sounds to take in.

Salutations, [coll.] – [Rvng Intl.]

aarbor   3/18/2025   12-inch, A Library

Salutations is a collection of 25 short tracks that was released on colored vinyl (Coke bottle clear) for Record Store Day in 2022. It’s new music interspersed with poetry readings. Recommended highly! AArbor

A portion of the proceeds from this release benefit A.B.O Comix an Oakland collective of creators & activists who work to amplify the voices of LGBTQ prisoners through art, and link them with free-world penpals.

Los Pakalolos – “No Time to Bail” – [Pakalolo Records]

humana   3/15/2025   A Library, CD

This Southern California surf band has a name that, in Hawaiian, means cannabis. The 11 tracks are fun and all you have to do is look at the guy on the CD sleeve to know he’s a man of our times, surfing on the edge of his board, grabbing his guitar in one hand and his drink in the other, while his eyes bug out from doing too much at once, even when he’s “relaxing.”

Mama & His Boys – “Twomp Twomp Vier” – [Street Beef]

Brian Damage   3/12/2025   12-inch, A Library

Hawt grunge from this Oaktown trio. Two of the cats came from The Loyalists; the drummer was in Mansion and Raised by Robots. The kind of punk noise you would expect from dudes who came of age during that ’87-’95 period when the scummier the sound, the better. Think TAD, Killdozer, Melvins, etc., with an extra dollop of trash on top.

“Let’s Go Do Some Crimes” is a cover of the Repo Man theme song by Iggy Pop.

Probably the biggest surprise? Only two FCCs, one at the very beginning of “Roundheel Go Square” – which you can cue past, and “Crimes / Repo Man” — which you can’t.

Big, dumb, fun. Damage says four stars. The cover art is zero stars, though.

Laiz and the New Love Experience – “Ela Partiu” – [Agogo Records]

aarbor   3/11/2025   12-inch, Hip Hop

Latin American Hip Hop at its best

Laíz was born in Jundiaí – Brazil – in the state of Sâo Paulo in 1999 and migrated to Germany in 2019 where she started her musical journey in the Berlin Jazz scene by blending Latin Groove, Free Jazz and Afrobeat with Brazilian Hip Hop. Here she combines Tropicalia and samba with her languid flow to produce a lively modern Latin American take on hip hop. An excellent record – don’t miss! AArbor

Pheeyownah – “Silver” – [Labrador]

aarbor   3/11/2025   12-inch, A Library

Screenshot

Pheeyownah is Ffyona Naluzzi Thylander from Sweden. This is her debut full length on Sweden’s Labrador Records. The sound is a hazy and haunting version of R&B, with smoky vocals, tumbling beats, and thick bass all working together to form her distinctive vision. It’s about coming to terms with the fact that life doesn’t always turn out the way you want it to but making the best of things. In Ffyona’s words, “It’s about the ups and downs of love, insecurities, self-doubt, empowerment, and finding the courage to be vulnerable without feeling less than or weak”. The tracks are all under 5 minutes long and there are short interludes – the asterisked tracks throughout. AArbor

Manifestation 11.5 [coll] – [CIA Records]

Isotope   3/11/2025   A Library, CD

This compilation CD from Houston-based CIA Records is a variety show of goodness. With its wide range of musical styles, you will find something, and quite possibly many things, that you will enjoy. Included on Manifestations 11.5 are instrumental guitar, metal, punk, dark wave, calming synth, screechy electro noise, and more. The “11.5” in the title refers to the extra tracks on the CD that are not on the LP. The tracks include both vocals and instrumentals. Musical contributors come from around the U.S. and the world. On this album, the sounds of protest and outrage are neighbors with soothing noises, as well as puzzling found sounds and distortive effects. Listen with an open mind.

Uzupis – “Dirt” – [Wollesonic Records]

Isotope   3/11/2025   12-inch, A Library

Dirt is a percussion fan’s delight. On it, all the members of the trio Uzupis play a variety of percussion instruments, including marimbas, vibes and electric vibes, and drums and synth drums. Also making an appearance are several instruments of trio member Kenny Wolleson’s own invention, devices he calls wollesonics. Each track has a musical identity of its own, ranging from African rhythms to vaguely Indonesian Gamelan sounds, supernatural, and contemporary classical sounds. This excellent album showcases the stylistic variety, and the wide range of tones and timbres, of percussion instruments. A fun listening experience.

Walter, Justin – “Lullabies and Nightmares” – [Kranky]

Isotope   3/11/2025   12-inch, A Library

In the unlikely event that you are looking for a calming musical listening experience, may I suggest you give Lullabies and Nightmares a listen? This 2013 album by Ann Arbor, MI-based Justin Walter was released in 2013, his first as a soloist. Walter plays trumpet and the electronic valve instrument (or EVI), a synthesizer with fingerings similar to the trumpet. I could not detect any nightmares in the music, only dreams—the album is more lullaby than nightmare. It has a relaxing sound and only an occasional undercurrent of tension. Great for the nerve-challenged.

Previte Chandler – “Previte Chandler” – [Subsound Records]

olygark   3/10/2025   A Library, CD

Previte Chandler is Bobby Previte (drums/percussion) and Knox Chandler (guitar), both based in the NYC area. To produce the recording, Chandler shared guitar files, that were processed through software applications to create what he calls “sound ribbons”. Previte’s drum tracks were added and then he returned the files. This process was repeated in cycles.  The tracks are sound landscapes that establish depth through the interplay between percussion and guitar.  The guitar sections, at times sound like they were made by a synth but you hear the attack of a guitar. Explosive drumming to be heard (e.g. track 1, track 6).

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “G_d’s Pee at State’s End” – [Constellation]

Jay Omega   3/6/2025   12-inch, A Library

“G_d’s”? Is that God’s Pee, or GodSpeed’s Pee, or maybe both? These non-aggressive, somewhat dronish, compositions largely capture a bleak impression of the world and the future. Exceptions are “Job’s Lament” (track 2 of 12” Side A) and the second half of the 12” Side B beginning with “Cliffs Gaze”, which both build like a slow sunrise on a hopeful new day. Otherwise, you’re floating on a sea of gloom.

Copyright © 2025 KFJC 89.7 FM
12345 S. El Monte Road Los Altos Hills, California 94022
Public Inspection File