September 2006

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Sad Lovers & Giants - Feeding The Flame

Watford, England's Sad Lovers & Giants made few headlines but some strong LPs, arguably the best of which, and certainly the most somber, is this collection. Its deftly played and arresting new wave/post-punk songs are built around Tristan Garel-Funk and David Woods' subtle evocations of mood. Singer Garce Allard's voice is at once brittle-sounding but self-assured. Both factors complement the sophisticated musical structures of songs such as "Imagination" and "Sleep (Is for Everyone)." They should be one of their generation's more celebrated discoveries, but sat out time on a label much less fashionable than, say, Factory. The intricacy of Garel-Funk's guitar on "Big Tracks Little Tracks" certainly puts them on a par with the Durutti Column. "Your Skin and Mine" has an innate grandeur that, keeping indulgence at arm's length, conveys a sense of pain and isolation that echoes Joy Division. It's an album that argues for a reappraisal of one of the '80s' best-kept secrets.

Your Download-Link

Friday, September 22, 2006

The God Machine - One Last Laugh In A Place Of Dying

Album Review - Melody Maker (17th September 1994)

Some things were never meant to be. After years of struggle against the vicissitudes of life in London and the tragic death of their bass player, The God Machine have decided to call it a day. Cathy Unsworth pays her last respect
It's hard to express feelings of loss in the printed word, still harder to pay adequate tribute to absent friends. As the title of the album suggests, "One Last Laugh In A Place Of Dying" is a more powerful testament to Jimmy Fernandez, the bassist who died in May this year at the tragically early age of 28, than any words could say.
In the space of two albums and four EPs, The God Machine reached higher, felt deeper and created more intense, eternal visions with their music than any of their contemporaries would ever have dared. This album is their peak, a thing of terrible, harrowing beauty that dips deep into the terrifying Pandora's Box of the human psyche to grapple with the raw nerve endings of existence. It brings back from the darkness in one, long howl of rage, pain and understanding the flaming torches of redemption, with a music that spans the worlds of the living and the dead. It surpasses Soundgarden's "Superunknown", Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream", even the back catalogue of Jane's Addiction, to whom they were initially compared.
"One Last Laugh ..." was recorded in Prague, and not for nothing does "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being" spring to mind. In the shadowlands of Europe TGM found the perfect surroundings for their haunted dreams, a place where secrets linger around dusty old architecture and winding streets, a place that has known the awful extremities of human evil : "Cut yourself so I can see the bleeding", is the opening line. "Tremelo Song" makes a sound like chandeliers falling, as Robin Proper-Sheppard, Jimmy Fernandez and Ron Austin turn guitar, bass and drums into one gilded eternity. You can sense the urgency and frantic release sought through the hypnotic "Painless" - "I'm sorry but that's not what I've found".

And so The God Machine move onwards through the rooms of your mind, unlocking doors where secrets fly around like ghosts. "The Devil Song" looks over its shoulders at a fork-tailed shadow moving ever closer, the clamouring of voices at its climax coming from an old, two-reel tape recorder Robin found in a junk shop in Prague.
"The Hunter" is a thing of sensual, aching beauty, a waltz with that devil in an old, forgotten ballroom, while "Evol" is the scariest evocation I've heard since Killing Joke's "Revelations" frightened the life out of my 13-year-old brain."Boy By The Roadside" is too painful to actually put into words, but the album drifts off to a beautiful piano elegy, "The Sunday Song", which sounds like the refrain from a ghostly carnival.
Three years ago, on a rainy night in King's Cross, The God Machine told me that the "Purity"EP was recorded as if it was going to be their last record. Their futures were so unsure at the time that they had to put everything into the one moment they had. "It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees", they said.

Track List :
1 The Tremolo Song 04:02
2 Mama 02:52
3 Alone 04:48
4 In Bad Dreams 03:09
5 Painless 03:58
6 The Love Song 03:55
7 The Life Song 04:41
8 The Devil Song 05:05
9 The Hunter 07:58
10 Evol 04:06
11 The Train Song 04:27
12 The Flower Song 05:41
13 Boy by the Roadside 05:50
14 The Sunday Song 08:34

Your Download-Link

Monday, September 18, 2006

The Legendary Pink Dots - 1991 - The Maria Dimension

The Legendary Pink Dots - 1991 - The Maria Dimension

Formed in London in 1980, the Legendary Pink Dots moved to Amsterdam in the middle of the decade. Members throughout the band's career have been Edward Ka-Spel (vocals, keyboards) and Phil Knight (keyboards), also known as the Silver Man, with a shifting supporting cast over the years. The Dots' music is by turns melodic pop and exotic psychedelia, with classical influences, sampling, and relentlessly dark, violent, apocalyptic lyrics. After several releases for Mirrodot and Inphaze during the early '80s, the group signed to Play It Again Sam distribution for 1985's The Lovers, and released much of their best material (1990's Crushed Velvet Apocalypse, 1991's The Maria Dimension) on the label. Even as the Legendary Pink Dots neared their two-decade anniversary, the group continued to tour Europe and America quite consistently.After releasing Your Children Placate you From Premature in spring of 2006, the band embarked on their 25th anniversary tour.

YOUR DOWNLOAD LINK :

http://rapidshare.com/files/78671931/legendary_pink_dots.rar

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Swans - 1991 - White Light from the Mouth of Infinity

Swans - 1991 - White Light from the Mouth of Infinity

MUSCIANS:
Michael Gira - voice, acoustic guitar, sounds, samples, keyboards, arrangements
Jarboe - voice, keyboards, background vocals, choral / orchestral arrangements
Christoph Hahn - acoustic and electric guitar
Clinton Steele - acoustic and electric guitar
Jenny Wade - bass guitar
Anton Fier - drums, drum programming
Nicky Skopelitis - acoustic and electric guitar, baglama, bazouki, banjo
Vincent Signorelli -percussion
Hahn Rowe - violin
Steve Burgh - mandolin, 12-string guitar
Norman Westberg - electric guitar

SONGS:
Better Than You
Power And Sacrifice
You Know Nothing
Song For Dead Time
Will We Survive
Love Will Save You
Failure
Song For The Sun
Miracle Of Love
When She Breathes
Why Are We Alive?
The Most Unfortunate Lie

Crawling out of the same noisy, arty New York underground , Swans created a dark, abrasive, murky, slowed-down noise rock that served as a starting point for their ruminations about alienation, depression, depravity, and the disturbing side of human nature. Singers Michael Gira and Jarboe have been the group's only constants over the years.

The opening track "Better Than You" almost says it all: Starting with the wail of an infant, then suddenly crashing into surging music that mixes quick, energetic drums with bells and other instruments, the song turns into a dramatic acoustic guitar/percussion piece with Gira's brooding voice and Jarboe's haunting backing; after some re-developments of the themes, it ends with a beautiful restatement of the sung section with additional guitar and bell sounds. At once incredibly destructive and astoundingly life-affirming — and worth the entire Burning World album several times over — "Better Than You" demonstrates that Swans had emerged even more powerful and artistic than before, aiming for an awesome, all-encompassing majesty in their music that the admittedly hypnotic earlier versions of the band, in their brute forcefulness, simply could not have achieved. Interestingly, a number of players from Burning World and other Bill Laswell associates participate on White Light, but hereas sole producer marshals everyone's collective efforts to heights that Laswell either was unwilling or unable to do. Also notably, Westberg is all but absent on guitar, with new arrival Clinton Steele taking the fore as the major instrumentalist after Gira and Jarboe themselves. Picking out all the highlights from such a stunning disc is practically impossible, but three of the flat-out classic marvels here are: "You Know Nothing," with its simply lovely introduction and Gira's commanding singing; "Song for Dead Time," a gentle Jarboe-sung number filled out by a simple but effective string-synth arrangement; and "Failure," carried by a buried guitar strum, Gira's Sisyphean lyric, and brief, lush choruses. Simply put, this is out and out brilliant as the clear starting point for the second half of Swans' unique career.

Your Download-Links :
http://rapidshare.com/Swans_-_White_Light.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/Swans_-_White_Light.part2.rar

1000 Travels of Jawaharlal

1000 Travels of Jawaharlal


1000 Travels of Jawaharlal was formed in Kita-Kyushu in the west of Japan in January 1999. Line-up was Koichiro Shimoda [Vocals, Guitar], Shinichi Iwata [Bass], Kenji Yoshida [Drum, Vocals]. This line up released a CD EP [October 1999] as well as a split CD with Minority Blues Band [November 2000]. Both records were released on the Japanese record label ImoMuShi Records, and a split with Bowfura we released ourselves [May 2000]. Among those records were released 1000 Travels of Jawaharlal had toured Japan several times. In April 2001 Kenji left the band. After half a year of looking out for a new drummer Yasuaki Nakazono was finally added in October 2001. In 2002 1000 Travels toured Japan extensively with the new line up. The band expresses the musical taste of its members. Emotive punk rock bands such as Rites Of Spring, Jawbreaker, Hüsker Dü, Leatherface were named. In early 2003 they recorded their first full length LP/CD which was released on ImoMuShi again for Japan as well as on Day After from Czech Republic for Europe. After the release of the record 1000 Travels of Jawaharlal toured Japan extensively throughout the spring, followed by a three weeks European tour with Light The Fuse And Run from the US.

(bio nicked from the band’s website =])

Discography:
demo - CT
Letter - CDS
split with Minority Blues Band - CD
split with Bowfura - CD
Owari Wa Konai - CD/LP
Light Your Way (Compilation) - CD
split with Aghast - CD
split with Aghast - 10"
split with Pear Of The West – CT

1000 Travels of Jawaharlal Owari Wa Konai

Nothing else here other than totally cheese-free, übertight, emotive and heartfelt hardcore, delivered by these jap punks. Pretty much in the vein of early DC emocore pioneers such as Rites of Spring, Dag Nasty or Ignition, with more than a passing nod to latter bands like Torches to Rome. Which means, really, really ace stuff.

Cheers! K. (curse ye all kidz!)
xxx

Band Website:
http://www.imomushi.jp/1000travelsofjawaharlal/
You can order this album and other punk/indie thingies from this really great distro:

http://www.novarecordings.net/

GRAB IT HERE PUNKER!!

posted by
curse ye all kidz!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

RADIO BIRDMAN - the essential Radio Birdman 1974-1978

Although the best-known band of the early Australian punk scene of the late '70s was the Saints, the first band to wave the punk rock flag in the land down under was Radio Birdman. Formed by Australian émigré Deniz Tek (originally from Ann Arbor, MI) and Aussie surfer-turned-vocalist Rob Younger in 1974, Radio Birdman's approach to rock & roll was rooted in the high-energy, apocalyptic guitar rant of the Stooges and MC5, sprinkled liberally with a little East Coast underground hard rock courtesy of Blue Oyster Cult. Their first EP,Burn My Eye released in 1976, was a great record and still remains a seminal chunk of Aussie punk. Loud and snotty, with Younger bellowing his guts out and Tek on a search-and-destroy mission with his guitar, this was a great debut that set the stage for the impending deluge of Aussie punk bands waiting in the wings. After the release of their debut LP,Radios Appear (the title comes from a lyric in the Blue Oyster Cult song "Dominance and Submission"), in Australia a year later, Radio Birdman seemed poised to break Aussie punk worldwide. And although the American label Sire (then the home of the Ramones) was quick to sign them and distribute Radios Appear internationally in 1978, there was a gap of three years before they released a second album, Living Eyes. During that time, dozens of other Aussie punk bands stole their thunder, and Radio Birdman split up almost immediately after Living Eyes was released. Sire never released the record outside of Australia, and Radio Birdman, who should have been the biggest band in Aussie punk, was now a highly regarded punk forefather. After the band split in 1978, various members were busy forming other bands:TEK formed the New Race with Younger,ex-Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton and ex-MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson, released a handful of solo singles and EPs, and became a surgeon;Younger started his own band, the New Christs, and produced records by the second generation of Aussie punk bands influenced by Radio Birdman, most notablythe Celibate Rifles; other Radio Birdman alumni ended up in assorted Aussie bands such as the Lime Spiders, Hoodoo Gurus, and Screaming Tribesmen. Now the grand old man of Aussie punk, Tek formed a part-time project with Celibate Rifles guitarist Kent Steedman that rocks with the same reckless abandon Radio Birdman did when they were changing the course of Australian rock forever. 2001 saw a renewal of interest in Radio Birdman thanks to an excellent compilation, The Essential Radio Birdman 1974-1978 released by Sub Pop in the States. Murder city Nights : live arrived in 2003, followed by the all-new Zeno Beach in 2006.

GET IT HERE